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ORATIONS, 

I* 

DELIVERED AT THE 

REQUEST OF THE INHABITANTS 



TOWN OF BOSTON, 



COMMEMORATE THE EVENING 



FIFTH OF MARCH, 1770 ; 

WUEN A NUMBER OP CITIZENS WERE KILLED B7 A PARTV OP 

BRITISH TROOPS, QUARTERED AMONG THEM, 

IN A TIME OF PEACE* 



SECOND edition: 



BOSTON : 
PUBLISHED BY WM. T. CLAP, No. 88, FISH STREET, 



OREBNOUGH, STEBBIKS AND HUNT, PRINTER?, 
1807. 



U ^ f <^ 






By transfer 

JAN 15 1S16 



ORATION, 

DELIVERED AT BOSTON, APRIL 2, Mil, 



BY JAMES LOVELL, A. M. 



Omnes homines natura Libertati student, et conditionem ser vitut^ 
oderunt. c^s. 

— Nunc ea petit, quae dare nullo modo possumus, nisi prius volumus 
nos bello victos coniiteri. cic. 

YOUR design in the appointment of this 
ceremony, my friends and fellow townsmen, can- 
not fail to be examined in quite different lights at 
this season of political dissension. From the prin- 
ciples I profess, and in the exercise of my common 
right to judge with others, I conclude it was decent^ 
wise^ and honourable. 

The certainty of being favoured with your kindest 
partiality and candour, in a poor attempt to execute 
the part to which you have invited me, has over- 
come the objection of my inability to perform it in 
a proper manner ; and I now beg the favour of 
your animating countenance. 

The horrid bloody scene we here commemorate, 
whatever were the causes which concurred to bring 
it on that dreadful night, must lead the pious and 
humane, of every order, to some suitable reflec- 
tions. The pious will adore the conduct of that 
Being who is unsearchable in all his ways, and 
without whose knowledge not a single sparrow falls, 
in permitting an immortal soul to be hurried by the 
flying ball, the messenger of death, in the twinkling 
of an eye, to meet the awful Judge of all its secret 



actions. The humane, from havhig often thought, 
with pleasing rapture, on the endearing scenes of 
social life, in all its amiable relations, will lament, 
with heartfelt pangs, their sudden dissolution, by 
indiscretion, rage, and vengeance. 

But let us leave that shocking close of one con- 
tinued course of rancour and dispute, from the first 
moment that the troops arrived in town ; that 
course will now be represented by your own re- 
flections to much more solid, useful purpose, than 
by any artful language. I hope, however, that 
heaven has yet in store such happiness for this af- 
flicted town and province, as will in time wear out 
the memory of all your former troubles. 

I sincerely rejoice with you in the happy event of 
your steady and united effort to prevent a second 
tragedy. 

Our fathers left their native land, risked all the 
dangers of the sea, and came to this then savage des- 
ert, with that true undaunted courage which is ex- 
cited by a confidence in God. They came that they 
might here enjoy themselves, and leave to their 
posterity the best of earthly portions, full English 
liberty. You showed upon the alarming cause for 
trial, that their brave spirit still exists in vigour, 
though their legacy of right is much impaired. 
The sympathy and active friendship of some neigh- 
bouring towns, upon that sad occasion, commands 
the highest gratitude of this. 

We have seen and felt the ill effects of placing 
standing forces in the midst of populous communi- 
ties ; but those are only what individuals suffer. 
Your vote directs me to point out the fatal tendency 
of placing such an order in free cities — fatal in- 
deed ! Athens once was free ; a citizen, a favourite 
of the people, by an artful story, gained a trifling- 
guard of fifty men j ambition taught him ways to 



enlarge that number ; he destroyed the common- 
wealth, and made himself the tyrant of the Athery 
ians, Ccesar^ by the length of his command in 
Gaul^ got the affections of his army, marched to 
Rome^ overthrew the state, and made himself per- 
petual dictator. By the same instruments, many 
less republics have been made to fall a prey to the 
devouring jaws of tyrants. But this is a subject 
which should never be disguised with figures j it 
chooses the plain style of dissertation. 

The true strength and safety of every common- 
wealth or limited monarchy, is the bravery of its 
freeholders, its militia. By brave militias they 
rise to grandeur, and they come to ruin by a mer- 
cenary army. This is founded on historical facts, 
and the same causes will, in similar circumstances, 
for ever produce the same effects. Justice Black- 
stone^ in his inimitably clear commentaries, tells us, 
that " it is extremely dangerous in a land of liber- 
ty, to make a distinct order of the profession of 
arms ; that such an order is an object of jealousy ; 
and that the laws and constitution of England are 
strangers to it." One article of the Bill of Rights 
is, that the raising or keeping a standing army 
within the kingdom in a time of peace, unless it be 
with consent of parliament, is against law. The 
present army, therefore, though called the peace 
establishment, is kept up by one act, and governed 
by another ; both of which expire annually. This 
circumstance is valued as a sufficient check upon 
the army. A less body of troops than is now~ 
maintained, has, on a time, destroyed a king, and 
fought under a parliament with great success and 
glory ; but, upon a motion to disband them, they 
turned their masters out of doors, and fixed others 
in their stead. Such wild things are not again to 
happen, because the parliament have power to stop 
A2 



payment once a year : But arma teneiiti quis 7ie- 
get f which may be easily interpreted, " who will 
bind Sampson with his locks on ?"* 

The bill which regulates the army, the same fine 
author I have mentioned, says, '' is, in many re- 
spects, hastily penned, and reduces the soldier to a 
state of slavery, in the midst of a free nation. 
This is impolitic ; for slaves envy the freedom of 
others, and take a malicious pleasure in contribut- 
ing to destroy it." 

By this scandalous bill a justice of peace is em.- 
powered to grant, without a previous oath from the 
military officer, a warrant to break open any (free- 
man's) house, upon pretence of searching for de- 
serters. 

I must not omit to mention one more bad ten- 
dency ; it is this, a standing force leads to a total 
neglect of militias, or tends greatly to discourage 
them. 

You see the danger of a standing army to the 
cause of freedom. If the British parliament con- 
sents from year to year to be exposed, it doubtless 
has good reasons. But when did our assembly 
pass an act to hazard all the property, the liberty 
and lives of their constituents ? What check have 
v/e upon a British army ? can we disband it ? can 
we stop its pay ? 

Our own assemblies in America can raise an ar- 
my ; and our monarch, George the 3d^ by our con- 
stitution, takes immediate command. This army 
can consent to leave their native provinces. Will 
the royal chief commander send them to find bar- 
racks at Brunsxvick^ or Lunenburg^ at Hanover^ or 
the commodious hall of Westminster f suppose the 
last ; suppose this army was informed, nay thought 
the parliament in actual rebellion, or only on the 
^ Trenchard. 



eve of one, against the king, or against those who 
paid and clothed them ; for there it pinches : — we 
are rebels against parliament ; — we adore the king. 

Where, in the case I have stated, would be the 
value of the boasted English constitution ? 

Who are a free people ? not those who do not 
suffer actual oppression j but those who have a con- 
stitutional check upon the power to oppress. 

We are slaves or freemen : if, as we are called, 
the last, where is our check upon the following 
powers, France^ Spain., the States of Holland., or the 
British parliaments ? now if any one of these (and 
it is quite immaterial w^hich) has a right to make 
the two acts in question operate within this prov- 
ince, they have a right to give us up to an unlimited 
army, under the sole direction of one Saracen com- 
mander. 

Thus I have led your thoughts to that upon which 
I formed my conclusion, that the design of this cer- 
emony was decent, wise, and honourable. Make 
the bloody 5th of March the era of the resurrection 
of your birthrights, which have been murdered by 
the very strength that nursed them in their infancy. 
I had an eye solely to parliamentary supremacy ; 
and I hope you will think every other viev/ beneath 
your notice, in our present most alarming situation. 

Chatham., Camden^ and others, gods among men, 
and the farmer, whom you have addressed as the 
friend of mankind ; all these have owned that Eng- 
land has a right to exercise every power over us, 
but that of taking money out of our pockets, with- 
out our consent.* Though it seems almost too 
bold therefore in us to say " we doubt in every sin- 

* Taxation and representation are inseparable. Chatb. Camd. 

From what in our constitution is representation not insepara- 
ble ! — multa a Crasso divinitus dicta efferebantur, cum sibi illunn 
consulem esse negaret cui senator ipse ron esset, Ck. 



gle instance her legal right over this province,"'* 
yet we must assert it. Those I have named are 
mighty characters, but they wanted one advantage 
Providence has given us. The beam is carried off 
from our eyes, by the flowing blood of our fellow 
citizens, and now we may be allowed to attempt to 
remove the mote from the eyes of our exalted pat- 
rons. That mote, we think, is nothing but our ob- 
ligation to England first, and afterwards Great Bri- 
ain^ for constant kind protection of our lives and 
birthrights against foreign danger. We all acknowl- 
edge that protection. 

Let us once more look into the early history of 
this province. We find that our English ancestors, 
disgusted in their native country at a Legislation, 
which they saw was sacrificing all their rights, left 
its jurisdiction,! and sought, like wandering birds 
of passage, some happier climate. Here at length 
they settled down. The king of Eng-land wns said 
to be the royal % landlord of this territory ; with 
him they entered into mutual, sacred compact, by 
which the price of tenure, and the rules of manage- 
ment, were fairly stated. It is in this compact that 
we find our only true legislative authority. 

I might here enlarge upon the character of those 
first settlers, men of whom the world was little 
worthy ; who, for a long course of years, assisted 
by no earthly power, defended their liberty, their 
religion, and their lives, against the greatest inland 

* I confine myself to this province, partly from ignorance of 
other charters ; but more from a desire even to vex some abler 
pen to pursue the idea of check ; which an unchartered freemaii 
may do, as well as any other in America. 

f Haec sunt enim fundamenta firmissima nostrae ibertatis, suj 
quemque juris et retinendi et dimittendi esse dominum. Cif. 

\ I choose to bury a fruitful subject for any satyrical genius of 
the family of Fern. 



9 

danger of the savage natives ; but this falls not 
within my present purpose. They were secure by 
sea. 

In our infancy, when not an over tempting jewel 
for the Bourbon crown, the very name of England 
saved us ; afterwards her fleets and armies. We 
wish not to depreciate the worth of that protection. 
Of our gold, yea, of our most fine gold, we will 
freely give a part. Our fathers would have done 
the same. But must we fall down and cry '*• let 
not a stranger rob and kill me, O my father ! let 
me rather die by the hand of my brother, and let 
him ravish all my portion !"^ 

It is said that disunited from Britain., " we 
should bleed at every vein." I cannot see the con- 
sequence. The states of Holland do not suffer 
thus. But grant it true, Seneca., would prefer the 
launcets of France., Spain., or any other poAver, to 
the bow string, though applied by the fair hand of 
Britannia. 

The declarative vote of the British parliament is 
the death warrant of our birthrights, and wants on- 
ly a Czarish king to put it into execution. Here 
then a door of salvation is open. Great Britain 
may raise her fleets and armies, but it is only our 
own king that can direct their fire down upon 
our heads. He is gracious, but not omniscient. 
He is ready to hear our appeals in their proper 
course ; and knowing himself, though the most 
powerful prince on earth, yet, a subject under a di- 
vine constitution of law ; that law he will ask and 
receive from the twelve judges oi England, These 
will prove that the claim of the British parliament 

* — ita vitam corpusque servato, ita fortunas, ita rem familia- 
rem, ut haec posteriora libertati ducas — nee pro his libertatem eed 
pro libertati hxc projicias, tanquam pignora injurisCi 



10 

over us is not only illegal in itself, but a downright 
usurpation of his prerogative as king oi America. 

A brave nation is always generous. Let us ap- 
peal, therefore, at the same time, to the generosity 
of the people of Great Britain^ before the tribunal =^' 
of Europe^ not to envy us the full enjoyment of the 
rights of brethren. 

And now, my friends and fellow townsmen, hav- 
ing declared myself an American son of liberty of 
true charter principles ; having shewn the critical 
and dangerous situation of our birthrights, and the 
true course for speedy redress ; I shall take the 
freedom to recommend, with boldness, one pre- 
vious step. Let us show we understand the true 
value of what we are claiming. 

The patriotic farmer tells us, " the cause of lib- 
erty is a cause of too much dignity to be sullied by 
turbulence and tumult. Anger produces anger ; 
and differences, that might be accommodated by 
kind and respectful behaviour, may, by impru- 
dence, be enlarged to an incurable rage. In quar- 
rels, risen to a certain height, the first cause of 
dissension is no longer remembered, the minds of 
the parties being wholly engaged in recollecting and 
resenting the mutual expressions of their dislike. — 
When feuds have reached that fatal point, consid- 
erations of reason and equity vanish ; and a blind 
fury governs, or rather confounds all things. A 
people no longer regard their interest, but a gratifi- 
cation of their wrath." 

We know ourselves subjects of common law ; to 
that and the worthy executors of it, let us pay a 
steady and conscientious regard. Past errors, in 
this point have been written with gall, by the pen 

* I do not think the quo warranto against our first charter, was 
tried in a proper cour>. 



11 



of malice. May our future conduct be such as to 
make even that vile imp lay her pen aside. 

The right which imposes duties upon us, is in 
dispute ; but whether they are managed by a Sur- 
veyor-General, a Board of Commissioners, Turk- 
ish Janizaries, or Russian Cossacks, let them enjoy 
during our time of fair trial, the common personal 
protection of the laws of our constitution. Let us 
shut our eyes, for the present, to their being exec- 
utors of claims subversive of our rights. 

Watchful, hawk eyed jealousy, ever guards the 
portal of the temple of the goddess Liberty. This 
is known to those who frequent her altars. Our 
whole conduct therefore, I am sure, will meet with 
the utmost candour of her votaries ; but I am wish- 
ing we may be able to convert even her basest apos- 
tates. 

We are slaves until we obtain such redress, 
through the justice of our king, as our happy con- 
stitution leads us to expect. In that condition, let 
us behave with the propriety and dignity of free- 
men ; and thus exhibit to the world, a new char- 
acter of a people, which no history describes. 

May the all wise and beneficient ruler of the uni- 
verse preserve our lives and health, and prosper all 
our lawful endeavours in the glorious cause of free- 
dom. 



.y^ RECEIVED 



/./BRAR^;. 





ORATION, 

DELIVERED AT BOSTON, MARCH 5, 1772, 



BY DR. JOSEPH AVARREN. 



Quis talla fando, 
Myrmidonum, Dolopumve, aut duri miles Ulyssei, 
"I'emperet a lacrymis. virgil, 

WHEN we turn over the historic page, and 
trace the rise and fall of states and empires, the 
mighty revokitions which have so often varied the 
face of the world strike our minds v/ith solemn 
surprise, and we are naturally led to endeavour to 
search out the causes of such astonishing changes. 

That man is formed for social life, is an observa- 
tion which, upon our first inquiry, presents itself 
immediately to our view, and our reason approves 
that wise and generous principle which actuated the 
first founders of civil government ; an institution 
which hath its origin in the weakness of individuals, 
and hath for its end, the strength and security of 
all ; and so long as the means of eftecting this im- 
portant end are thoroughly known, and religiously 
attended to, government is one of the richest bless- 
ings to mankind, and ought to be held in the high- 
est veneration. 

In young and new formed communities, the 
grand design of this institution is most generally 
understood, and most strictly regarded ; the mo- 
tives which urged to the social compact, cannot be 
at once forgotten, and that equality which is remem- 
B 



14 



bered to have subsisled so lately among them, pre- 
vents those who are clothed with authority from 
attempting to invade the freedom of their brethren ; 
or if such an attempt is made, it prevents the com- 
munity from suffering the offender to go unpun- 
ished ; every member feels it to be his interest, 
and knows it to be his duty, to preserve inviolate 
the constitution on which the public safety de- 
pends *, and is equally ready to assist the magis- 
trate in the execution of the laws, and the subject in 
defence of his right ; and so long as this noble at- 
tachment to a constitution, founded on free and be- 
nevolent principles, exists in full vigour, in any 
state, that state must be flourishing and happy. 

It was this noble attachment to a free constitu- 
tion, which raised ancient Rome from the smallest 
beginnings, to that bright summit of happiness and 
glory to which she arrived ; and it was the loss of 
this which plunged her from that summit, into the 
•black gulf of infamy and slavery. It was this at- 
tachment which inspired her senators with wisdom ; 
it was this which glowed in the breasts of her heroes ; 
it was this which guarded herliberties, and extended 
her dcmiinions, gave peace at home, and command- 
ed respect abroad ; and when this decayed, her mag- 
istrates lost their reverence for justice and the laws, 
and degenerated into tyrants and oppressors ; her 
senators, forgetful of their dignity, and seduced 
by base corruption, betrayed their country : her sol- 
diers, regardless of theh' relation to the community, 
and urged only by the hopes of plunder and rapine,' 
unfeelingly committed the most flagrant enormities.; 
and hired to the trade of death, v/ith relentless fury 
they perpetrated the most cruel murders, whereby 

■ * Omnes ordines ad conscrvandam rempubIica;io, mente, voIi;:> 
'--itPj r.tudio, Tivtute, voce, consentiuiit. cic-t.ko. 



15 

the streets of imperial Rome were drenched with her 
noblest blood. Thus this empress of the world lost 
her dominions abroad, and her inhabitants, dissolute 
in their manners, at length became contented slaves ; 
and she stands to this day, the scorn and derision 
of nations, and a monument of this eternal truth, 

that PUBLIC HAPPINESS DEPENDS ON A VIRTUOl5S 
AND UNSHAKEN ATTACHMENT TO A FREE CON- 
STITUTION. 

It was this attachment to a constitution, founded* 
on free and benevolent principles, v/hich inspired 
the first settlers of this country : they saw with 
grief the daring outrages committed on the free 
constitution of their native land-; they knew that 
nothing but a civil war could at that time restore 
its pristine purity. So hard was it to resolve to 
embrue their hands in the blood of their brethren, 
that they chose rather to quit their fair possessions, 
and seek another habitation in a distant clime. 
When they came to this nev/ world, which they 
fairly purchased ©f the Indian natives, the only 
rightful proprietors, they cultivated the then barren 
soil, by their incessant labour, and defended their 
dear bought possessions with the fortitude of the 
christian, and the bravery of the hero. 

After various struggles, which, during the ty- 
rannic reigns of the house of Stuart^ were con- 
stantly kept up between right and wrong, between 
liberty and slavery, the connection betv/een Great 
Britain and this colony, was settled in the reign of 
King Wtlliam and Queen Mary^ by a compact, the 
conditions of which were expressed in a charter ; 
by which all the liberties and immunities of Brit- 
ish subjects, v/ere confined to this province, as fully 
and as absolutely as they possibly could be by any 
human instrument which can be devised. And it 
is undeniably true, that the greatest and mos^ im- 



16 

porkint right of a British subject is, that he shall be. 
governed by no laws but those to which he either in 
person or by his representative hath given his con- 
sent : and this I will venture to assert, is the grand 
basis of British freedom ; it is interwoven with 
th(t constitution ; and whenever this is lost, the 
constitution must be destroyed. 

The British constitution (of which ours is a copy) 
is a happy compound of the three forms (under 
some of which all governments may be ranged) viz. 
monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy : of these 
'^hree the British Legislature is composed, and 
v/ithout the consent of each branch, nothing can 
rarry with it the force of a law ; but when a law is 
to be passed for raising a tax, that law can origi- 
nate only in the democratic branch, which is the 
House of Commons in Britain, and the House of 
Representatives here. The reason is obvious : 
they and their constituents are to pay much the 
largest part of it ; but as the aristocratic branch, 
%vhich in Britain^ is the house of lords, and in this 
province, the council, are also to pay some part, 
THEIR consent is necessary ; and as the monarchic 
branch, which in Britain is the king, and with us, 
cither the king in person, or the governor whom 
he shall be pleased to appoint to act in his stead, is 
supposed to have a just sense of his own interest, 
which is that of all the subjects in general, his 
consent is also necessary ; and when the consent of 
these three branches is obtained, the taxation is 
most certainly legal. 

Let us now allow ourselves a few moments to 
examine the late acts of the British parliament for 
taxing America. Let us with candour judge whe- 
ther they are constitutionally binding upon us : if 
they are, in the name of justice let us submit to 
them, without one murmuring v.^ord* 



17 

First, I would ask whether the irj embers of the 
British House of Commons are the democracy of 
this province ? If they are, they are either the 
people of this province, or are elected by the peo- 
ple of this province, to represent them, and have 
therefore a constitutional right to originate a bill 
for taxing them : it is most certain they are neither ; 
and thereibre nothing done by them can be said to 
be done by the democratic branch of our consti- 
tution. I would next ask, whether the Lords, who 
compose the aristocratic branch of the legislature, 
are peers of America I- I never heard it was (even 
in these extraordinary times) so much as pretend- 
ed ; and if they are not, certainly no act of theirs 
can be said to be the act of the aristocratic branch 
of our constitution. The power of the monarchic 
branch we with pleasure acknowledge, resides in 
the king, who may act either in person or by his 
representative ; and I freely confess that I c^n see 
no reason why a PROCLAMATION for rais- 
ing money in America, issued by the king's sole 
authority, would not be equally consistent with our 
own constitution, and therefore equally binding 
upon us with the late acts of the British parliament 
for taxing us ; for it is plain, that if there is any 
validity in those acts, it must arise altogether froin 
the monarchical branch of the legislature : and I 
further think that it would be at least as equitable ; 
for I do not conceive it to be of the least impor-- 
tance to us by whom our property is taken av^ay, 
so long as it is taken without our consent ; and i 
am very much at a loss to know by v/hat figure of 
rhetoric, the inhabitants of this province can be 
called FREE SUBJECTS, when they are obliged to 
obey implicitly, such laws as are made for them by 
men three thousand miles off, whom they know 
not, and whom they never have empowered to act 



IS 

ior them ; or how they can be said to have Prop* 
ERTY, when a body of men, over whom they have 
not the least control, and -w^ho are not in any way 
accountable to them, shall oblige them to deliver 
up any part, or the whole of their substance, with- 
out even asking their consent : and yet, whoever 
pretends that the late acts of the British parlia- 
ment for taxing America ought to be deemed 
binding upon us, must admit at once that we are 
absolute SLAVES, and have no property of our 
ov/n ; or else that we may be freemen, and at the 
same time under a necessity of obeying the arbi- 
trary commands of those over whom we have no 
control or influence ; and that we may have 
PROPERTY OF OUR OWN, which is entirely at the 
disposal of another. Such gross absurdities, I be- 
lieve, will not be relished in this enlightened age : 
and it can be no matter of wonder that the people 
quickly perceived, and seriously complained of the 
inroads v/hich these acts must unavoidably make 
upon their liberty, and of the hazard to which their 
v/hole property is by them exposed ; for, if they 
may be taxed without their consent, even in the 
smallest trifle, they may also, without their consent, 
be deprived of every thing they possess, although 
never so valuable, never so dear. Certainly it 
never entered the hearts of our ancestors, that after 
so many dangers in this then desolate wilderness, 
their hard earned property should be at the dispo- 
sal of the British parliament ; and as it was soon 
found that this taxation could not be supported by 
reason and argument, it seemed necessary that one 
act of oppression should be enforced by another, 
and therefore, contrary to our just rights as pos- 
sessing, or at least having a just title to possess, all 
the liberties and immunities of British subjects, a 
>standing army was established among us in a time 



19 

ot peace ; and evidently for the purpose of effect- 
ing that, which it was one principal design of the 
founders of the constitution to prevent (when they 
declared a standing army in a time of peace to be 
AGAINST LAW) namely, for the enforcement 
of obedience to acts which, upon fair examination, 
appeared to be unjust and unconstitutional. 

The ruinous consequences of standing armies to 
free communities, may be seen in the histories of 
Syracuse^ Rome^ and many other once flourishing 
states ; some of which have now scarce a name ! 
their baneful influence is most suddenly felt, when 
they are placed in populous cities ; for, by a cor- 
ruption of morals, the public happiness is immedi- 
ately affected ? and that this is one of the effects of 
quartering troops in a populous city, is a truth, to 
which many a mourning parent, many a lost, des- 
pairing child in this metropolis, must bear a very 
melancholy testimony. Soldiers are also taught 
to consider arms as the only arbiters by which eve- 
ry dispute is to be decided between contending 
states ; they are instructed implicitly to obey their 
com.manders, without inquiring into the justice of 
the cause they are engaged to support : hence it isy 
that they are ever to be dreaded as the ready en- 
gines of tyranny and oppression. And it is too 
observable that they are prone to introduce the 
same mode of decision in the disputes of individ- 
uals, and from thence have often arisen great ani- 
mosities between them and the inhabitants, who, 
w^hilst in a naked defenceless state, are frequently 
insulted and abused by an armed soldiery. And 
this will be more especially the case, when the 
troops are informed that the intention of their be- 
ing stationed in any city, is to overawe the in- 
habitants. That this was the avowed design of 
stationing an armed force in this town, is sufficient- 



20 

Ij known ; and we, my fellow-citizens, have seen^ 
WE have felt the tragical effects ! The FATAL 
FIFTH OF MARCH, 1770, can never be for- 
gotten. The horrors of that dreadful night 
are but too deeply impressed on om^ hearts. Lan- 
guage is too feeble to paint the emotions of our 
souls, when our streets were stained with the blood 
OF OUR brethren; wlicu our ears were wounded 
by the groans of the dying, and our eyes were tor- 
mented with the sight of the mangled bodies of the 
dead. When our alarmed imagination presented 
to our view our houses wrapt in flames, our chil- 
dren subjected to the barbarous caprice of the rag- 
ing soldiery ; our beauteous virgins exposed to all 
the insolence of vmbridled passion ; our virtuous 
wives, endeared to us by every tender tie, fall- 
ing a sacrifice to worse than brutal violence, and 
perhaps, like the famed Lucretia, distracted with 
anguish and despair, ending their wretched lives 
by their own fair hands. When we beheld the 
authors of our distress parading in our streets, 
or drawn up in a regular battalia, as though in »► 
hostile city, our hearts beat to arms ; we snatched 
our weapons, almost resolved, by one decisive 
stroke, to avenge the death of our slaughtered 
brethren, and to secure from future danger, all 
that we held most dear : but propitious Heaven 
forbad the bloody carnage, and saved the threat- 
ened victims of our too keen resentment, not by 
their discipline, not by their regular array ; no, 
it was royal George's livery that proved their shield, 
it was that which turned the pointed engines of 
destruction from their breasts.* The thoughts of 

* I have the strongest reason to believe that I have mentioned 
the only circumstance which saved the troops from destruc- 
tion. It was then, and now is, the opinion of those who were besf 



21 

vengeance were soon buried in our inbred aftecti-on 
to Great Britain^ and calm reason dictated a me- 
thod of removing the troops more mild than 
an immediate recourse to the sword. With 
united efforts you urged the immediate departure 
of the troops from the town ; you urged it, with a 
resolution which ensured success ; you obtained 
your wishes, and the removal of the troops was ef- 
fected, without one drop of their blood being shed 
by the inhabitants. 

The immediate actors in the tragedy of that^ 
NIGHT were surrendered to justice. It is not mine 
to say how far they vvere guiltv ! they have been 
tried' by the country and ACQUITTED of mur- 
der ! and they are not to be again arraigned at an 
earthly bar : but surely the men who have pro- 
miscuously scattered death amidst the innocent in- 
habitants of a populous city, ought to see well to it 
that they be prepared to stand at the bar of an om^ 
niscient Judge ! and all who contrived or encourag- 
ed the stationing troops in this place, have reasons 
of eternal importance, to reflect with deep contrition, 
on their base designs, and humbly to repent of their 
impious machinations. 

The infatuation which hath seemed, for a num- 
ber of years, to prevail in the British councils, with 
regard to us, is truly astonishing ! wliat can be pro- 
posed by the repeated attacks made upon our free- 
dom, I really cannot surmise ; even leaving justice 
and humanity out of the question, I do not know 
one single advantage which can arise to the British 
nation, from our being enslaved ; I know not of 

acquainted with the state of affairs at that time, that had thrice 
that number of troops, belonging to any power at open war with 
us, been in this town, in the same exposed condition, scarce a nian 
would have lived to have seen the morning light. 



22 

any gains, which can be wrung from us by oppress- 
ion, which they may not obtain from us by our own 
consent, in the smooth channel of commerce ; we 
wish the weakh and prosperity of Britain ; we con- 
tribute largely to both. Doth what we contribute 
lose all its value, because it is done voluntarily ? the 
amazing increase of riches to Britain, the great rise 
of the value of her lands, the flourishing state of her 
navy are striking proofs of the advantages derived 
to her from her commerce with the colonies ; and 
it is our earnest desire that she may still continue 
to enjoy the same emoluments, until her streets are 
paved with American gold ; only, let us have the 
pleasure of calling it our own, whilst it is in our 
hands ; but this it seems is too great a favour : we 
are to be governed by the absolute commands of oth- 
ers ; our property is to be taken away without our 
consent ; if we complain, our complaints are treat- 
ed with contempt ; if we assert our rights, that as- 
sertion is deemed insolence ; if we humbly offer to 
submit the matter to the impartial decision of rea- 
son, the sword is judged the most proper argument 
to silence our murmurs ! but this cannot long be the 
case : surely the British nation will not suffer the 
reputation of their justice and their honour, to be 
thus sported away by a capricious ministry ; no, 
they will in a short time open their eyes to their true 
interest : they nourish in their own breasts, a noble 
love of liberty ; they hold her dear, and they know 
that all who have once possessed her charms, had 
rather die than suffer her to be torn from their em- 
braces ; they are also sensible that Britain is so 
deeply interested in the prosperity of the colonies, 
that she must eventually feel every v/ound given to 
their freedom ; they cannot be ignorant that more 
dependence may be placed on the affections of a 
brother, than oi\.the forced service of a slave ; they 



23 

must approve your efforts for the preservation of 
your rights ; from a sympathy of soul they must 
pray for your success ; and I doubt not but they 
will, ere long, exert themselves effectually, to re- 
dress your grievances. Even in the dissolute 
reign of King Charles II. when the House of Com- 
mons impeached the earl of Clarendon of high trea- 
son, the first article on which they founded their ac- 
cusation was, that " he had designed a standing- 
army to be raised, and to govern the kingdom there- 
by." And the eighth article was, that " he had in- 
troduced an arbitrary government into his majesty's 
plantation." A terrifying example to those who 
are now forging chains for this country. 

You have, my friends and countrymen, frustrated 
the designs of your enemies, by your unanimity and 
fortitude : it was your union and determined spirit 
which expelled those troops, who polluted your 
streets with innocent blood. You have appointed 
this anniversary as a standing memorial of the bloody 
consequences of placing an armed force in a popu- 
lous city, and of your deliverance from the dangers 
which then seemed to hang over your heads : and 
I am confident that you never w\\\ betray the least 
want of spirit when called upon to guard your free- 
dom. None but they who set a just value upon 
the blessings of liberty are worthy to enjoy her ; 
your illustrious fathers were her zealous votaries ; 
when the blasting frowns of tyranny drove her from 
public view, they clasped her in their arms, they 
cherished her in their generous bosoms, they brought 
her safe over the rough ocean, and fixed her seat in 
this then dreary wilderness ; they nursed her infant 
age with the most tender care ; for her sake, they 
patiently bore the severest hardships ; for her sup- 
port, they underwent the most rugged toils : in her 
defence, they boldly encountered the most alarming 



24 

dangers ; neither the ravenous beasts that ranged 
the woods for prey, nor the more furious savages 
of the wilderness, could damp their ardour ! Whilst 
v/ith one hand they broke the stubborn glebe, with 
the other they grasped their weapons, ever ready 
to protect her from danger. No sacrifice, not even 
their own blood, was esteemed too rich a libation 
for her altar ! God prospered their valour ; they 
preserved her brilliancy unsullied ; they enjoyed 
her whilst they lived, and dying, bequeathed the 
dear inlieritance to your care. And as they left 
you this glorious legacy, they have undoubtedly 
transmitted to you some portion of their noble spi- 
rit, to inspire you with virtue to merit her, and 
courage to preserve her : you surely cannot, with 
such examples before your eyes, as every page of 
the history of this country affords,* suffer your lib- 
erties to be ravished from you by lawless force, or 
cajoled away by flattery and fraud. 

The voice of your fathers' blood cries to you 
from the ground ; my sons scorn to be SLAVES ! 
in vain we met the frowns of tyrants ; in vain, we 
crossed the boisterous ocean, found a new world, 
and prepared it for thehappy residence of liberty ; 
in vain, we toiled ; in vain, we fought ; we bled 
in vain, if you, our oiFspring, want valour to repel 
the assaults of her invaders ! Stain not the glory 
of your worthy ancestors ; but like them resolve, 
never to part with your birthright ; be wise in 
your deliberations, and determined in your exer- 
tions for the preservation of your liberties. Follow 
not the dictates of passion, but enlist yourselves un- 
der the sacred banner of reason ; use every method 
in your power to secure your rights ; at least pre- 

^ At simul heroum laudes, et facta parentis 
Jam legere, et qusg sit poteris cognoscere virUis, virg. 



25 

vent the curses of posterity from being heaped upon 
your memories. 

If you, with united zeal and fortitude, oppose the 
torrent of oppression ; if you feel the true fire of 
patriotism burning in your breasts ; if you, from 
your souls, despise the most gaudy dress that slav- 
ery can wear ; if you really prefer the lonely cot- 
tage (whilst blest with liberty) to gilded palaces, 
surrounded with the ensigns of slavery, you may 
have the fullest assurance that tyranny, with her 
whole accursed train, will hide their hideous heads 
in confusion, shame and despair ; if you perform 
your part, you must have the strongest confidence, 
that THE SAME ALMIGHTY Being who protected 
your pious and venerable forefathers, who enabled 
them to turn a barren wilderness into a fruitful 
field, who so often made bare his arm for their sal- 
vation, will still be mindful of you their offspring. 

May this ALMIGHTY BEING graciously 
preside in all our councils. — May he direct us to 
such measures as he himself shall approve, and be 
pleased to bless. May we ever be a people favoured 
of GOD. May our land be a land of liberty, the 
seat of virtue, the asylum of the oppressed, a name 
and a praise in the whole earth, until the last shock 
of time shall bury the empires of the world in one 
common undistinguished ruin ! 



ORATION, 



9 

DELIVERED 4T BOSTON, MARCH 5, 1773. 



BY DR. BENJAMIN CHURCH. 



Impius haec tarn culta novalia miles habebit ? 

Barbarus has ScJgetes ? en quo discordia cives 
Perduxit misei os ? en queis consevimus agros ? 

Virgil, Eel. 1. 

o soon 

O passi graviora, d ibit Deus his quoque finem : 

revocate mimos, msestumque timorem 

Mittite, forsan et haec olim memmisse juvabit. 

Virgil, j^ne. I. 

FROM a consciousness of inability, my 
friends and fellow countrymen, I have repeatedly 
declined the duties of this anniversary. Nothing 
but a firm attachment to the tottering liberties of 
Aftierica^'^ added to the irresistible importunity of 
some valued friends, could have induced me (es- 
pecially with a very short notice) so far to mistake 
my abilities, as to render the utmost extent of your 
candour truly indispensable. 

When man was unconnected by social obliga- 
tions ; abhorrent to every idea of dependence ; 
actuated by a savage ferocity of mind, displayed in 
the brutality of his manners, the necessary exigen- 
cies of each individual, natui^lly impelled him to 
acts of treachery, violence and murder. 

* Periculosa; plenum opus alex 

Tractas, incedis per ignes 

Suppositos cineri dolose. Horacx. 



2S 

The miseries of mankind thus proclaiming eter- 
nal war with their species, led them, probably, to 
consult certain measures to arrest the current of 
such outrageous enormities. 

A sense of their wants and weakness, in a state 
of nature, doubtless inclined them to such recipro- 
cal aids and support, as eventually established soci- 
ety. 

Men then began to incorporate ; subordination 
succeeded to independence ; order to anarchy ; 
and passions were disarmed by civilization ; soci- 
ety lent its aid to secure the weak from oppression, 
who wisely took shelter within the sanctuary of 
law. 

Increasing society afterwards exacted, that the 
tacit contract made with her by each individual, at 
the time of his being incorporated, should receive a 
more solemn form to become authentic and irre- 
fragable ; the main object being to add force to the 
laws, proportionate to the power and extent of the 
body corporate, whose energy they were to direct. 

Then society availed herself of the sacrifice of 
;hat liberty and that natural equality of which we 
are all conscious : superiors and magistates were 
appointed, and mankind submitted to a civil and 
political subordination. This is truly a glorious 
inspiration of reason, by whose influence, notwith- 
standing the inclination we have for independence, 
M^e accept control, for the establishment of order. 

Although unrestrained power in one person, may 
have been the first and most natural recourse of 
mankind, from rapine, and disorder ; yet all re- 
strictions of power, made by laws, or participation 
of sovereignty, are apparent improvements upon 
what began in unlimited power. 

It would shock humanity, should I attempt to 
describe those barbarous and tragic scenes, Avhich 



29 

crimson the hlstrorlc page of this wretched and de- 
testable constitution, where absokite dominion is 
lodged in one person ; where one makes the whole, 
and the whole is nothing. What motives, what 
events, could have been able to subdue men, en- 
dowed with reason, to render themselves the mute 
instruments, and passive objects of the caprice of an 
individual. 

Mankind apprized of their privileges, in being 
rational and free, in prescribing civil laws to them- 
selves, had surely no intention of being enchained 
by any of their equals ; and although they submit- 
ted voluntary adherents to certain laws, for the sake 
of mutual security and happiness, they, no doubt, 
intended by the original compact, a permanent ex- 
emption of the subject body from any claims, which 
were not expressly surrendered, for the purpose of 
obtaining the security and defence of the whole. 
Can it possibly be conceived, that they would vol- 
untarily be enslaved by a power of their own crea- 
tion ? 

The constitution of a magistrate, does not there- 
fore take away that lawful defence against force and 
injury, allowed by the law of nature ; we are not 
to obey a prince, ruling above the limits of the 
power entrusted to him ; for the commonwealth, 
by constituting a head, does not deprive itself of 
the power of its own preservation."^ Government 
and magistracy, whether supreme or subordinate, 
is a mere human ordinance, and the laws of every 
nation are the measure of magistratical power ; and 
kings, the servants of the state, when they degen- 
erate into tyrants, forfeit their right to government. 

Breach of i rust in a governor,! or attempting to 
t-nlarge a limited power, effectually absolves stib- 

* Th« celebratod Mrs. Macaula^. f Mrs. Alacaulay. 
C 2 



30 

jects from every bond of covenant and peace ; the 
crimes acted by a king against the people, are the 
highest treason against the highest law among 
men.=^ 

" If the king (says Grothis) hath one part of the 
supreme power, and the other part is in the senate 
or people, when such a king shall invade that part 
which doth not belong to him, it shall be lawful to 
oppose a just force to him, because his power doth 
not extend so far." 

The question, in short, turns upon this single 
point, respecting the power of the civil magistrate j 
is it the end of that office, that one particular person 
may do what he will without restraint ? or rather 
that society should be made happy and secure r the 
answer is very obvious. And it is my firm opin- 
ion, that the equal justice of God, and the n?itural 
freedom of mankind, must stand or fall together. 

When rulers become tyrants, they cease to be 
kings ; they can no longer be respected as God's 
vicegerents, who violate the laws they were sworn 
to protect. The preacher may tell us of passive 
obedience, that tyrants are scourges in the hands 
of a righteous God, to chastise a sinful nation, and 
are to be submitted to like plagues, famine, and 
such like judgments : such doctrine may serve to 
mislead ill judging princes into a false security ; 
but men are not to be harangued out of their sen- 
ses ; human nature and self preservation will eter- 
nally arm the brave and vigilant, against slavery 
and oppression. 

As a despotic governmentf is evidently pro- 

* Salus populi suprema lex esto. 

f The ingratitude and corruption of Romei Is perhaps, in no in- 
stance, more strongly marked tlian in her treatment of her colo- 
nies ; by their labours, toils, and arms, she had reached to that sum- 
mit of glorious exaltation, a» to be like Britain the wotider and 



61 

dactlve of the most shocking calamities, whatever 
tends to restrain such inordinate power, though in 
itself a severe evil, is extremely beneficial to soci-, 
ety ; for where a degrading servitude is the de- ' 
testable alternative, who can shudder at the reluct- 
ant poniard of a Brutus^ the crimsoned axe of a 
Cromwell^ or the reeking dagger of a Ramllac ? 

To enjoy life as becomes rational creatures, to 
possess our souls with pleasure and satisfaction, 
we must be careful to maintain that inestimable 
blessing, liberty. By liberty I would be under- 
stood, the happiness of living under laws of our 
own making, by our personal consent, or that of 
our representatives.* 

Without this, the distinctions among mankind 
are but different degrees of misery ; for as the true 
estimate of a man's life consists in conducting it 
according to his own just sentiment and innocent 
inclinations, his being is degraded below that of a 
free agent, which heaven has made him, when his 
affections and passions are no longer governed by 
the dictates of his own mind, and the interests of 
human society, but by the arbitrary, unrestrained 
will of another. 

I thank God we live in an age of rational inqui- 

dread of the world ; but by fatal experience, those ruined colonies 
inculcate this serious lesson, the ambition of a despot is boundless ; 
his rapine is insatiable ; the accomplishment of his conquests over 
his enemies, is but the introdu6lion of slavery, with her concomitant 
plagues, to his friends. 

* The very idea of representative, deputy or trustee, includes 
that of a constituent, whose interest they are ordained and appointed 
to promote and secure ; my unappointed, self constituted agent in 
the British parliament, has fraudently and arbitrarily surrendered 
my best interest, without my privity or consent ; I do therefore 
hereby protest against all such powers as he shall claim in my behalf, 
and most solemnly discard him my service for ever. See Lock civil 
government. Risut/t teneatis amici ! 



32 

sition, when the unfettered mind dares to expatiate 
freely on every object worthy its attention, when 
the privileges of mankind are thoroughly compre- 
hended, and the rights of distinct societies are ob- 
jects of liberal inquiry. The rod of the tyrant no 
longer excites our apprehensions, and to the frown 
of the despot, which made the darker ages trem- 
ble, * we dare oppose demands of right, and ap- 
peal to that constitution, which holds even kings in 
fetters. 

It is easy to project the subversion of a people, 
when men behold them, the ignorant or indolent 
victims of power ; but it is difficult to eff. ct their 
ruin, when they are apprized of their just claims, 
and are sensibly and seasonably affected with 
thoughts for their preservation. God be thanked, 
the alarm is gone forth, f the people are univer- 
sally informed of their charter rights ; they esteem 
them to be the ark of God to New England^ and 
like that of old, may it deal destruction to the pro- 
fane hand that shall dare to touch it. 

In every state or society of men, personal liber- 
ty and security must depend upon the collective 



* Caelum non animum mutant, qui trans mafe currunt. The 
citizens of Rome, Sparta, or Lacademon at those blessed periods 
when they were most eminent for their attachment to liberty and 
virtue, could never exhibit brighter examples of patriotic zeal, than 
are to be found at this day in America ; I will not presume to say 
that the original British spirit has improved by transplanting; but this 
I dare affirm, that should Britons stoop to oppression, the struggles 
of their American brethren, will be their eternal reproach. 

f The instituting a committee of grievances and correspondence, 
by the town of Boston, has served this valuable purpose : The 
general infra<Stion of the rights of all the colonies, must finally reduce 
the discordant provinces, to anecessary combination for their mutual 
interest and defence : Some future Congress will be the glorious 
source of the salvation of America .• The Amphictiones of Greece^ 
who formed the diet or great council of the states, exhibit an ex- 
ceUent model for the rising American? 



33 

power of the whole, acting for the general intei;- 
€st. * If this collective power is not of the whole, 
the freedom and interest of the whole is not secur- 
ed : If this confluent power acts by a partial dele- 
gation, or for a partial interest, its operation is 
surely determinable, where its delegation ends. 

The constitution of England^ I revere to a de- 
gree of idolatry ; but my attachment is to the 
commonwealth : The magistrate will ever com- 
mand my respect, by the integrity and wisdom of 
his administration. 

yunius well observes ; when the constitution is 
openly invaded, when the first original right of the 
people, from which all laws derive their authority, 
is directly attacked, inferior grievances naturally 
lose their force, and are suffered to pass by with- 
out punishment or observation. 

Numberless have been the attacks made upon 
our free constitution ; numberless the grievances 
we now resent ; but the hydra mischief, is the vio- 
lation of my right, as a British American freehold- 
er, in not being consulted in framing those statutes 
I am required to obey. 

The authority of the British monarch over this 
colony was established, and his power derived 
from the province charter ; by that we are enti- 
tled to a distinct legislation. As in every govern- 
ment there must exist a power superior to the lawsf, 

* Lord Chief Justice Coke observes, " when any new device is 
moved in the king's behalf, for aid or the like, the commons may 
answer, they dare not agree without conrerence with their coun- 
ties." The novel device of fleecing the colonies, was introduced 
in a way the constitution knows not of, and crammed down their 
throats by measures equally iniquitous. 

?f I will not alarm the sticklers for the present measures, by con- 
fronting them with more stale authorities, if they will permit me 
the following short, but express declaration of Sidaey, wh'ch they 
n^iy chew at ieizure. " No man can give that which is anothers." 



34 

viz. the power that makes those laws, and from 
which they derive their authority :* Therefore the 
liberty of the people is exactly proportioned to the 
share the body of the people have in the legisla- 
ture ; and the check placed in the constitution, on 
the executive power. That state only is free, 
where the people are governed by laws which they 
have a share in making ; and that country is total- 
ly enslaved, where one single law can be made or 
repealed, without the interposition or consent of 
the people. 

That the members of the British parliament are 
the representatives of the whole British empire, 
expressly militates with their avowed principles ; 
property and residence within the island, alone 
constituting the right of election ; and surely he is 
not my delegate in whose nomination or appoint- 
ment I have no choice : But however the futile 
and absurd claim of a virtual representation, may 
comport with the idea of a political visionary ; he 
must (if possible) heighten the indignation, or ex- 
cite the ridicule of a freeborn American, who by 
such a fallacious pretext would despoil him of his 
property. 

An American freeholder, according to the just 
and judicious conduct of the present ministry, has 
no possible right to be consulted, in the disposal of 
his property : When a lordly, though unlettered 
British elector, possessed of a turnip garden, with 
great propriety may appoint a legislature, to assess 
the ample domains of the most sensible, opulent 
American planter. 

But remember, my brethren, when a people 

* Nothing, continued the corporal, can be so sweet, an' olease 
your honor, as liberty ; nothing Trim, said my uncle Toby^ musing ; 
whilst a man is free, cried the corporal, giving a flourish with his 

stick, TRISTRAM SHANDY. * 



35 

have once sold their liberties, it is no act of extra- 
ordinary generosity, to throw their lives and prop- 
erties into the bargain, for they are poor indeed 
when enjoyed at the mercy of a master. 

The late conduct of Great Britain^ so inconsist- 
ent with the practice of former times, so subver- 
sive of the first principles of government, is suffi- 
cient to excite the discontent of the subject : The 
Americans justly and decently urged an exclusive 
right of taxing themselves ; was it indulgent, con- 
ciliating, or parental conduct in that state, to exag- 
gerate such a claim, as a concerted plan of rebel- 
lion in the wanton Americans ? and by a rigorous 
and cruel exercise of power to enforce submission, 
excite such animosities, as at some future period, 
may produce a bitter repentance ? 

Can such be called a legal tax or free gift ? it is 
rather levying contributions on grudging enslaved 
Americans, by virtue of an act framed and enforc- 
ed, not only without, but against their consent ; 
thereby rendering the provincial assemblies a use- 
less part of the constitution. 

Where laws are framed and assessments laid 
without a legal representation, and obedience to 
such acts urged by force, the despairing people rob- 
bed of every constitutional means of redress, and 
that people, brave and virtuous, must become the 
admiration of ages, should they not appeal to those 
powers, which the immutable laws of nature have 
lent to all mankind. Fear is a slender tie of sub- 
jection ; we detest those whom we fear, and wish 
destruction to those we detest ; but humanitv, up* 
rightness, and good faith, with an apparent watch- 
fulness for the welfare of the people, constitute the 
permanency, and are the firmest support of the 
sovereign's authority ; for when violence is oppo- 



36 

sed to reason and justice, courage never wants' an 
arm for its defence. 

What dignity, what respect, what authority, can 
Britain derive from her obstinate adherence to er- 
ror ? she stands convicted of violating her own 
principles, but perseveres with unrelenting sever- 
ity ; we implore for rights as a grace, she aggra- 
vates our distress, by lopping away another and 
another darling privilege j we ask for freedom, 
and she sends the sword ! 

To the wisdom, to the justice, to the piety of his 
most sacred majesty, I unite in my appeal with this 
unbounded empire ; God grant he may attend to the 
reiterated prayer, instead of the murmur of dis-^ 
content, and the frown of lowering disaffection ; we 
would universally hail him with those effusions of 
genuine joy, and duteous veneration, which the 
proudest despot will vainly look for, from forced 
respect or ceremonial homage. 

Parties and factions, since the days of the de- 
tested Andross^ have been strangers to this land ; 
no distinctions of heart felt animosity, disturbed 
the peace and order of society until the malignant 
folly of a ^late rancorous commander in chief con- 
jured them from the dead ; when shall this unhap- 
py clime be purged of its numerous plagues ? when 
will our troubles, our feuds, our struggles cease ? 
when will the locusts leave the land ? then, and 
not until then, peace and plenty shall smile around 
us ; the husbandman will labour with pleasure ; 
and honest industry reap the reward of its toil. 

But let us not forget the distressing occasion of 
this anniversary : the sullen ghosts of murdered 
fellow citizens, haunt my imagination " and har- 
row up my soul ;" methinks the tainted air is 

* The Ncttleham Baronet. 



hung with the dews of death, while Ate hot from 
hell, cries havock, and lets slip the dogs of war. 
Hark ! the van tenants of the grave still shriek for 
vengeance on their remorseless butchers : forgive 
us heaven ! should we mingle involuntary execra- 
tions, while hovering in idea over the guiltless 
dead. Where is the amiable, the graceful Mavev" 
ick P the opening blossom is now withered in his 
cheek, the sprightly fire that once lightened in his 
eye is quenched in death ;'^ the savage hands of 
brutal ruffians, have crushed the unsuspecting vic- 
tim, and in an evil hour snatched away his gentle 
soul. 

Where is the friendly, the industrious Cald- 
zvell P he paced innoxious through the theatre of 
death, inconscious of design or danger ; when the 
winged fate gored his bosom, and stript his startled 
soul for the world of spirits. Where are the resi- 
due of active. citizens that were wont to tread these 
sacred floors ? fallen by the hands of the vindic- 
tive assassins ; they swell the horrors of the san- 
guinary scene. Loyalty stands on tiptoe at the 
shocking recollection, while justice, virtue, honour, 
patriotism become suppliants for immoderate ven- 
geance : the whole soul calmom-s for arms, and is 
on fire to attack the brutal banditti ; we fly agoniz- 
ing to the horrid aceldama ; w^e gaze on the man- 
gled corses of our brethren, and grinning furies 
glotting o'er their carnage ; the hostile attitude of 
the miscreant murderers, redoubles our resent- 
ment, and makes revenge a virtue. 

By heaven they die ! thus nature spoke, and the 
swoln heart leaped to execute the dreadful pur- 
pose ; dire was the interval of rage, fierce was the 



-Hie ubi barbarus hostis, 



Ut fera plus valeant legibus arma facit. dViD de ponto. 



38 

conflict of the soul. In that important hour, did 
not the stalking ghosts of our stern forefathers, 
point us to bloody deeds of vengeance ? did not 
the consideration of our expiring liberties, impel 
us to remorseless havock ? but hark ! the guardian 
God of New England issues his awful mandate, 
*' Peace be still ;" hushed was the bursting war, 
the lowering tempest frowned its rage away. Con- 
fidence in that God, beneath whose wing we shel- 
ter all our cares, that blessed confidence released 
the dastard, the cowering prey : with haughty 
scorn we refused to become their executioners, 
and nobly gave them to the wrath of heaven : but 
words can poorly paint the horrid scene. =* De- 
fenceless, prostrate, bleeding countrymen, the pier- 
cing, agonizing groans ; the mingled moan of 
weeping relatives and friends : these best can 
speak, to rouse the lukewarm into noble zeal ; to 
fire the zealous into manly rage, against the foul 
oppression of quartering troops in populous cities, 
in times of peace. 

I'hou who yon bloody walk shalt traverse, there 
Where troops of Britain's king, on Britain's sons, 
Discharg'd the leaden vengeance ; pass not on 
Ere thou hast blest their memory, and paid 
Those hallowed tears, which sooth the virtuous dead i 
O stranger ! stay thee, and the scene around 
Contemplate well ; and if perchance thy home 
Salute thee with a father's honoured name, 
Go call thy sons — instruct them what a debt 
They owe their ancestors, and make them swear 
To pay it, by transmitting down entire 
Those sacred rights, to which themselves were bori^. 

•Multaque rubentia cosde 



Lubrica Saxa madent, nulli sua profuit astas. lucan, xib. '2 



ORATION, 

DJELIFERED AT BOSTON, MARCH 5, 1774. 



?Y THE HON. JOHN HANCOCK, ESQ. 



Vendidit hie auro patriam, dommumque potentem 
Imposuit : fixit leges pretio atque reiixit. 
Non, mihi si lingua centum sint, oraque centum, 
Ferrea vox, omnes scelerum comprendere formas, 

possim. 

VIR<S. 
MENi BRETHREN, FATHERS, AND FELLOW COUNTRYMEN / 

THE attentive gravity ; the venerable ap- 
pearance of this crowded audience ; the dignity 
which I behold in the countenances of so many in 
this great assembly ; the solemnity of the occasion 
upon which we have met together, joined to a con- 
sideration of the part I am to take in the important 
business of this day, fill me with an awe hitherto un- 
known, and heighten the sense which I have ever 
had, of my unworthiness to fill this sacred desk ; 
but, allured by the call of some of my respected fel- 
low citizens, with whose request it is always my 
greatest pleasure to comply, I almost forgot my 
want of ability to perform what they required. In 
this situation I find my cnly support, in assuring 
myself that a generous people will not severely cen- 
sure what they know was well intended, though its 
want of merit, should prevent their being able to ap- 
plaud it. And I pray, that my sincere attachment 
to the interest of my country, and hearty detestation 



40 

of every design formed against her liberties, tnay 
be admitted as some apology for my appearance in 
this place. 

I have always, from my earliest youth, rejoiced 
in the felicity of my fellow men ; and have eve¥ 
considered it as the indispensable duty of eveiy 
member of society to pronnote, as far as in him lies, 
the prosperity of every individual, but more especi- 
ally of the community to which he belongs ; and al- 
so, as a faithful subject of the state, to use his ut- 
most endeavours to detect, and having detected, 
strenuously to oppose every traitorous plot which 
its enemies may devise for its destruction. Secu- 
lity to the persons and properties of the governed, 
is so obviously the design and end of civil govern- 
ment, that to attempt a logical proof of it, would be 
like burning tapers at noon day, to assist the sun in 
enlightening the world ; and it cannot be either vir- 
tuous or honourable, to attempt to support a govern- 
ment, of which this is not the great and principal 
basis ; and it is to the last degree vicious and in- 
famous to attempt to support a government, which 
manifestly tends to render the persons and proper- 
ties of the governed insecure. Some boast of be- 
ing friends to government ; I am a friend to right- 
<^.ou3 government, to a government founded upon 
the principles of reason and justice ; but I glory in 
,5ublicly avowing my eternal enmity to tyranny. 
is the present system which the British administra- 
tion have adopted for the government of the colo- 
nies, a righteous government? oris it tyranny? 
Here suffer me to ask (and would to heaven there 
could be an answer) what tenderness, what regard, 
respect or consideration has Great Brhahi shev/n, 
in their late tratisactions, for the security of the per- 
sons or properties of the inhabitants of the colo- 
nies ? or rather, what have they omitted doing to de- 



41 

stroy that security :' they have declared that they 
have, ever had, and of right ought ever to have, 
full power to make laws of sufficient validity to 
bind the colonies in all cases whatever : they have 
exercised this pretended right by imposing a tax 
upon us without our consent ; and lest we should 
shew some reluctance at parting with our property, 
her fleets and armies are sent to enforce their mad 
pretensions. The town of ^C'-s^ow, ever faithful to 
the British crown, has been invested by a British 
fleet : the troops of George the III. have crossed 
the wide Atlantic, not to engage an enemy, but to 
assist a band of Traitors in trampling on the 
rights and liberties of his most loyal subjects in A- 
merica ; those rights and liberties which, as a father, 
he ought ever to regard, and as a king, he is bound, 
in honour, to defend from violations, even at the 
risk of his own life. 

Let not the history of the illustrious house of 
Brunswick inform posterity, that a king, descend- 
ed from that glorious monarch George the II. once 
sent his British subjects to conquer and enslave his 
subjects in America ; but be perpetual infamy en- 
tailed upon that villain who dared to advise his mas- 
ter to such execrable measures ; for it was easy to 
foresee the consequences which so naturally fol- 
lowed upon sending troops into America^ to enforce 
obedience to acts of the British parliament, which 
neither God nor man ever empov/ered them to 
make. It was reasonable to expect that troops, 
who knew the errand they were sent upon, would 
treat the people whom they were to subjugate, 
with a cruelty and haughtiness, which too often 
buries the honourable character of a soldier, in the 
disgraceful name of an unfeeling ruffian. The 
troops, upon their first arrival, took possession of 
our senate house, and pointed their cannon against 
D2 



42 

the judgment hall, and even conthiued them there 
whilst the supreme court of judicature for this 
province was actually sitting to decide upon the 
lives and fortunes of the king's subjects. Our 
streets nightly resounded with the noise of riot and 
debauchery ; our peaceful citizens were hourly ex- 
posed to shameful insults, and often felt the effects 
of their violence and outrage. But this was not all : 
as .though they thought it not enough to violate our 
civil rights, they endeavoured to deprive us of the 
enjoyment of our religious privileges ; to vitiate our 
morals, and thereby render us deserving of destruc- 
tion. Hence the rude din of arms which broke in 
upon your solemn devotions in your temples, on 
that day hallowed by heaven, and set apart by God 
himself for his peculiar worship. Hence, impious 
oaths and blasphemies so often tortured your unac- 
customed ear. Hence, all the arts which idleness 
and luxury could invent, were used, to betray our 
youth of one sex into extravagance and effeminacy, 
and of the other to infamy and ruin ; and did they 
not succeed but too well ? did not a reverence for 
religion sensibly decay ? did not our infants almost 
learn to lisp out curses before they knew their horrid 
import ? did not our youth forget they were 
Americans, and regardless of the admonitions of 
the wise and aged, servilely copy from their tyrants 
those vices which finally must overthrow the empire 
of Great Britian ? and must I be compelled to ac- 
knowledge, that even the noblest, fairest part of all 
the lower creation did not entirely escape the cursed 
snare ? when virtue has once erected her throne 
within the female breast, it is upon so solid a basis 
that nothing is able to expel the heavenly inhabitant. 
But have there not been some, few indeed, I hope, 
whose youth and inexperience have rendered them 
a prey to wretches, whom, upon the least reflection. 



43 

they would hnve despised and hated as foes to God 
and their country ? I fear there have been some 
such unhappy instances ; or why have I seen an 
honest father clothed with shame ; or why a virtu- 
ous mother drowned in tears ? 

But I forbear, and come reluctantly to the trans- 
actions of that dismal night, v/hen in such quick 
succession we felt the extremes of grief, astonish- 
ment, and rage ; when heaven in anger, for a dread- 
ful moment, suffered hell to take the reins ; when 
Satan with his chosen band opened the sluices of 
Ne-w England''s blood, and sacrilegiously polluted 
our land with the dead bodies of her guiltless sons. 
Let this sad tale of death never be told without a 
tear ; let not the heaving bosom cease to burn with 
a manly indignation at the barbarous story, through 
the long tracts of future time ; let every parent tell 
the shameful story to his listening children, till tears 
of pity glisten in their eyes, and boiling passion 
shakes their tender frames ; and whilst the anni- 
versary of that ill fated night is kept a jubilee in 
the grim court of pandaemonium, let all America 
join in one common prayer to Heaven, that the in- 
human, unprovoked murders of the fifth of March, 
1770^ planned by Hillsborough, and a knot of 
treacherous knaves in Boston^ and executed by th© 
cruel hand of Presto?! and his sanguinary coadjutors, 
may ever stand on history without a parallel. But 
v/hat, my countiym.en, withheld the ready arm of 
vengeance from executing instant justice on the vile 
assassins ? Perhaps you feared promiscuous carnage 
might ensue, and that the innocent might share the 
fate of those who had performed the infernal deed. 
But were not all guilty ? were you not too tender of 
the lives of those who came to fix a yoke on your 
necks ? But I must not too severely blame a fault, 
',vhich great souls only can commit. May that mag^- 



44 

nificence of spirit which scorns the low pursuits of 
malice ; may that generous compassion which often 
preserves from ruin, even a guilty villain, for ever 
actuate the noble bosoms of Americans ! But let 
not the miscreant host vainly imagine that we feared 
their arms. No, them we despised ; we dread 
nothing but slavery. Death is the creature of a 
poltroon's brains ; it is immortality to sacrifice our- 
selves for the salvation of our country. We fear 
not death. That gloomy night, the pale faced moon, 
and the aifrighted stars that hurried through the 
sky, can witness that we fear not death. Our hearts, 
which at the recollection, glow with a rage that four 
revolving years have scarcely taught us to restrain, 
can witness that we fear not death ; and happy it is 
for those who dared to insult us, that their naked 
bones are not now piled up an everlasting monument 
of Massachusetts' bravery. But they retired, they 
Sed, and in that flight they found their only safety* 
We then expected that the hand of public justice 
would soon inflict that punishment upon the mur- 
derers, which, by the laws of God and man, they 
liad incurred. But let the unbiassed pen of a 
Robertson^ or perhaps of some equally famed Amer- 
ican, conduct this trial before the great tribunal of 
succeeding generations. And though the murder- 
ers may escape the just resentment of an enraged 
people; though drowsy justice, intoxicated by the 
poisonous draught prepared for her cup, still nods 
upon her rotten seat, yet be assured, such compli- 
cated crimes will meet their due reward. Tell me, 
ye bloody butchers ! ye villains high and low ! ye 
wretches who contrived, as well as you who exe- 
cuted the inhuman deed ! do you not feel the goads 
and stings of conscious guilt pierce through your 
savage bosoms I though some of you may think 
yourselves exalted to a height that bids defiance to 



45 

the amis of human justice, and others shroud y6ur- 
selves beneath the mask of hypocrisy, and build 
your hopes of safety on the low arts of cunning, 
chicanery, and falsehood ; yet, do you not some- 
times feel the gnawings of that worm which never 
dies ? do not the injured shades of Maverick^ ^^^^9 
Caldwell^ Attucks^ and Carr^ attend you in your sol- 
itary walks, arrest you even in the midst of your 
debaucheries, and lill even your dreams with ter- 
ror ? but if the unappeased manes of the dead should 
not disturb their murderers, yet surely even your 
obdurate hearts must shrink, and your guilty blood 
must chill within your rigid veins, when you behold 
the miserable Monk^ the v/retched victim of your 
savage cruelty. Observe his tottering knees, which 
scarce sustain his wasted body ; look on his haggard 
eyes, mark well the death like paleness on his fallen 
cheek, and tell me, does not the sight plant daggers 
in your souls ? Unhappy Monk ! cut off in the gay 
morn of manhood, from all the joys which sweeten 
life, doomed to drag on a pitiful existence, without 
even a hope to taste the pleasures of returning 
health ! yet Monk^ thou livest not in vain ; thou 
livest a warning to thy country, which sympathizes 
with thee in thy sufferings ; thou livest an affecting, 
an alarming instance of the unbounded violence 
which lust of power, assisted by a standing army, 
can lead a traitor to commit. 

For us he bled, and now languishes. The 
wounds by which he is tortured to a lingering death, 
were aimed at our country ! surely the meek eyed 
charity can never behold such sufferings with indif- 
ference. Nor can her lenient hand forbear to pour 
oil and wine into these wounds ; and to assuage at 
least, what it cannot heal. 

Patriotism is ever united with humanity and 
compassion. This noble affection which impels us 



46 

to sacrifice every thing dear, even life itself, to our 
country, involves in it a common sympathy and 
tenderness for every citizen, and must ever have a 
particular feeling for one who suffers in a public 
cause. Thoroughly persuaded of this, I need not 
add a word to engage your compassion and bounty 
towards a fellow citizen, who, with long protracted 
anguish, falls a victim to the relentless rage of our 
common enemies. 

Ye dark designing knaves, ye murderers, parri- 
cides ! how dare you tread upon the earth, which 
has drank in the blood of slaughtered innocents, 
shed by your wicked hands r how dare you breathe 
that air which wafted to the ear of heaven, the 
groans of those who fell a sacrifice to your accurs- 
ed ambition ? but if the labouring earth doth not 
expand- her jaws ; if the air you breathe is not- 
commissioned to be the minister of death ; yet, 
hear it, and tremble ! the eye of heaven penetrates 
the darkest chambers of the soul, traces the leading 
clue through all the labyrinths which your indus- 
trious folly has devised ; and you, however you 
may have screened yourselves from human eyes, 
must be arraigned, must lift your hands, red with 
the blood of those whose death you have procured, 
at the tremendous bar of God. 

But I gladly quit the gloomy theme of death, 
and leave you to improve the thought of that im- 
portant day, when our naked souls must stand be- 
fore that Being, from whom nothing can be hid. 
I would not dwell too long upon the horrid eifects 
which have already followed from quartering regu- 
lar troops in this town : let our misfortunes teach 
posterity to guard against such evils for the future. 
Standing armies are sometimes (I would by no 
means say generally, much less universally) com- 
posed of persons who have rendered themselves 



4>r 

unfit to live in civil society ; who have no other 
motives of conduct than those which a desire of 
the present gratification of their passions suggests ; 
who have no property in any country ; men who 
have lost or given up their own liberties, and envy 
those who enjoy liberty ; who are equally indiffer- 
ent to the glory of a George or a Lewis ; who for 
the addition of one penny a day to their wages, 
would desert from the christian cross, and fight 
under the crescent of the Turkish Sultan ; from 
such men as these, what has not a state to fear ? 
with such as these, usurping Cctsar passed the 
Rubicon ; with such as these, he humbled mighty 
Rome^ and forced the mistress of the world to own 
a master in a traitor. These are the men whom 
sceptered robbers now employ to frustrate the de- 
signs of God, and render vain the bounties which 
his gracious hand pours indiscriminately upon his 
creatures. By these the miserable slaves in Tur- 
key^ Persia^ and many other extensive countries, 
are rendered truly wretched, though their air is 
salubrious, and their soil luxuriously fertile. By 
these France ana Spahi^ though blessed by nature 
with all that administers to the convenience of life, 
have been reduced to that contemptible state in 

which they now appear ; and by these Britain — 

but if I was possessed of the gift of prophecy, I 
dare not, except by divine command, unfold the 
leaves on which the destiny of that once powerful 
kingdom is inscribed. 

But since standing armies are so hurtful to a 
state, perhaps, my countrymen may demand some 
substitute, some other means of rendering us se- 
cure against the incursions of a foreign enemy. 
But can you be one moment at a loss \ will not a 
well disciplined militia afford you ample security 
against foreign foes ? we want not courage ; it \^. 



48 

discipline alone in which we are exceeded by the 
most formidable troops that ever trod the earth, 
Surely our hearts flutter no more at the sound of 
war, than did those of the immortal band of Persia^ 
the Macedonian phalanx, the invincible Roman le- 
gions, the Turkish Janissaries, the Gens des Armes 
o^ France^ or the well known Grenadiers oi Britain* 
A well disciplined militia is a safe, an honourable 
guard to a community like this, whose inhabitants 
are by nature brave, and are laudably tenacious of 
that freedom in which they were born. From a 
well regulated militia we have nothing to fear ; 
their interest is the same with that of the state. 
When a country is invaded, the militia are ready to 
appear in its defence ; they march into the field 
v/ith that fortitude which a consciousness of the jus- 
tice of their cause inspires ; they do not jeopard 
their lives for a master who considers them only as 
the instruments of his ambition, and whom they re- 
gard only as the daily dispenser of the scanty pit- 
tance of bread and water. No, they fight for their 
houses, their lands, for their wives, their children, 
for all who claim the tenderest names, and are held 
dearest in their hearts, they fight proaris focis^ for 
their liberty, and for themselves, and for their God. 
And let it not offend, if I say, that no militia ever 
appeared in more flourishing condition, than that 
of this province now doth ; and pardon me if I say, 
of this town in particular. I mean not to boast ; I 
would not excite envy, but manly emulation. We 
have all one common cause ; let it therefore be our 
only contest, who shall most contribute to the secu- 
rity of the liberties of America. And may the 
same kind providence which has watched over this 
country from her infant state, still enable us to de- 
feat our enemies. I cannot here forbear noticing 
the signal manner in which the designs of those 



4yj 

who wish not well to us have been discovered. 
The dark deeds of a treacherous cabal, have been 
brought to public viev/. You now know the ser- 
pents w^ho, whilst cherished in your bosoms, were 
darting their envenomed stings into the vitals of 
the constitution. But the representatives of the 
people have fixed a mark on those ungrateful mon- 
sters, which, though it may not make them so se- 
cure as Cain of old, yet renders them at least as 
infamous. Indeed it would be affrontive to the 
tutelar deity of this country even to despair of sav- 
ing it from all the snares which human policy can 
lay. 

True it is, that the British ministry have annex- 
ed a salary to the office of the governor of this 
province, to be paid out of a revenue, raised in 
America, without our consent. They have at- 
tempted to render our courts of justice the instru- 
ments of extending the authority of acts of the 
British parliament over this colony, by making the 
judges dependent on the British administration for 
their support. But this people will never be en- 
slaved with their eyes open. The moment they 
knew that the governor was not such a governor as 
the charter of the province points out, he lost his 
power of hurting them. They were alarmed ; 
they suspected him, have guarded against him, 
and he has found that a wise and a brave people, 
when they know their danger, are fruitful in expe- 
dients to escape it. 

The courts of judicature also so far lost their 
dignity, by being supposed to be under an undue 
influence, that our representatives thought it abso- 
lutely necessary to resolve that they were bound to 
declare, that they would not receive any other sala- 
ry besides that which the general court should 
grant them ; and if they did not make this decla- 
E 



ration, that it would be the duty of the house to 
impeach them. . 

Great expectations were also formed from the 
artful scheme of allowing the East India company 
to export tea to America, upon their own account. 
This certainly, had it succeeded, would have 
ciTected the purpose of the contrivers, and gratifi- 
ed the most sanguine wishes of our adversaries. 
We soon should have found our trade in the hands 
of foreigners, and taxes imposed on every thing 
which we consumed ; nor would it have been 
strange, if, in a few years, a company in London, 
should have purch?ised an exclusive right of trad- 
ing to America. But their plot was soon discov- 
ered. The people soon were av/are of the poison 
w^iicli with so much craft and subtilty had been 
concealed : loss and disgrace ensued : and, per- 
haps, this long concerted master piece of policy, 
mav issue in the total disuse of tea, in this coun- 
try, wdiich will eventually be the saving of the lives 
and the estates of thousands ; yet v,'hile v.^e rejoice 
that the adversary has not hitherto prevailed 
against us, let us by no means put off the harness. 
Restless malice, and cVisappointed ambition, will 
sdll suggest new measures to our inveterate ene- 
mies. Therefore let us also be ready to take the 
iield whenever danger calls ; let us be united, and 
strengthen the hands of each other, by promoting 
a general union among us* Much has been done 
by the committees of correspondence for this and 
the other towns of this province, towards uniting 
the inhabitants ; let them still go on and prosper. 
Much has been done by the committees of corres- 
pondence, for the houses of assembly, in this and 
our sister colonies, for uniting the inhabitants of, 
the whole continent, for the security of their com- 
mon interest. May success exer attend their gen- 



erous endeavours. But permit me here to sug- 
gest a general congress of deputies, from the sev- 
eral houses of assembly, on the continent, as the 
most effectual method of establishing such an u- 
nion, as the present posture of our affairs requires. 
At such a congress, a firm foundation may be laid 
for the security of our rights and libertk^s ; a sys- 
tem may be formed for our common safety, by a 
strict adherence to which, we shall be able to frus- 
trate any attempts to overthrow our constitution ; 
restore peace and harmony to America, and secure 
honour and wealth to Great Britain, even against 
the inclinations of her ministers, whose duty it is 
to study her welfare ; and we shall also free our- 
selves from those unmannerly pillagers w^ho impu- 
dently tell us, that they are licensed by an act of 
the British parliament, to thrust their dirty hands 
into the pockets of every American. But, I trust 
the happy time will come, when, with the besom 
of destruction, those noxious vermin will be swept 
for ever from the streets of Boston. 

Surely you never will tamely suffer this country 
to be a clen of thieves. Remember, my friends, 
from w^hom you sprang ; let not a meanness of 
spirit, unknown to those whom you boast of as 
your fathers, excite a thought to the dishonour of 
your mothers. I conjure you by all that is dear, 
by all that is honourable, by all that is sacred, nox 
only that ye pray, but that you act ; that, if neces- 
sary, ye fight, and even die, for the prosperity of 
our Jerusalem. Br-eak in sunder, with noble dis- 
dain, the bonds with which the Philistines have 
bound you. Suffer not j^ourselves to be betrayed 
by the soft arts of luxury and effeminacy, into the 
pit digged for your destruction. Despise the 
glare of v/ealth. That people who pay greater re- 
spect to a wealthy villain, than to an honest upright- 



^j2 

man in poverty, almost deserve t© be enslaved ; 
they plainly shew, that wealth, however it may be 
acquired, is, hi their esteem, to be preferred to 
virtue. 

But I thank God, that America abounds in men 
v^ho are superior to all temptation, whom nothing 
Gan divert from a steady pursuit of the interest of 
tlieir country ; v/ho are at once its ornament and 
safeguard. And sui-e I am, I should not incur 
your displeasure, if I paid a respect so jusily due 
to their much honoured characters, in this place ; 
but when I name an Adams, such a numerous host 
of fellow patriots rush upon my mind, that I i'ear 
it would take up too much of your time, should I 
attempt to call over the illustrious roll : but your 
grateful hearts will point you to the men ; and 
their revered names, in all succeeding times, shall 
grace the annals of America. From them, let us, 
my friends, take example ; from them let us catch 
the divine enthusiasm j and feel, each for himself, 
the godlike pleasure of diffusing happiness on all 
uround us ; of delivering the oppressed from the 
iron grasp of tyranny ; of changing the hoarse 
complaints and bitter moans of wretched slaves, 
into those cheerful songs, which freedom and con- 
tentment must inspire. There is a heartfelt satis- 
faction in reflecting on our exertions for the public 
Tveal, which all the sufferings an enraged tyrant can 
inflict, will never take away ; which the ingrati- 
tude and reproaches of those whom we have saved 
from ruin, cannot rob us of. The virtuous assert- 
or of the rights of mankind, merits a reward, which 
even a want of success in his endeavours to save 
his country, the heaviest misfortune which can be- 
fall a genuine patriot, cannot entirely prevent him 
from receiving"' 



I have the most animating confidence th:U the 
present noble struggle for liberty, vvill terminate 
gloriously for America. And let' us play the man 
for our God, and for the cities of our God ; while 
we are using the means in our power, let us hum- 
bly commit our righteous cause to the great Lord 
of the universe, Vv^ho loveth righteousness and hat- 
eth iniquity. And having secured the approba- 
tion of our hearts, by a faithful and unwearied dis- 
charge of our duty to our country, let us joyfully 
leave her important concerns in the hands of Him 
who raiseth up and putteth down the empires and 
kingdoms of the world as he pleases ; and v/ith 
cheerful submission to his sovereign will devout- 

h' say, 

" Although the fig tree shall not blossom, nei- 
ther shall fruit be in the vines ; the labour of the 
olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat 5, 
the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there 
shall be no herd in the stalls ; yet we will rejoice 
in the Lord, we will joy in the God ofoursalvn 



DELIVERED AT BOS^Of^.^^RCH 6,^gV5.Q, 
BY DR. JOSEPH WARR^!^. 



Taiitae molis erat, Romanam condere gentem. 

Virgil's Mn,s 

Oul, metuens, vivit, Ilber niilii non erit unquam. 

HoR. Epis. 

MY EVER HONOURED FELLOW CITIZENS, 

IT is not without the most humiliating con- 
viction of my want of ability that I now appear be- 
fore you : but the sense I have of the obligation I 
am under to obey the calls of my country at all 
times, together with an animating recollection of 
your indulgence, exhibited upon so many occasions, 
has induced me, once more, undeserving as I am, 
to throw myself upon that candour which looks with 
kindness on the feeblest efforts of an honest mind. 

You will not now expect the elegance, the learn= 
ing, the fire, the enrapturing strains of eloquence 
which charmed you when a Lovell, a Church, or 
a Hancock spake j but you will permit me to say 
that with a sincerity, equal to theirs, I mourn over 
my bleeding country : with them I weep at her dis- 
tress, and with them deeply resent the many injuries 
she has received from the hands of cruel and unrea- 
sonable men. 

That personal freedom is the natural right of ev- 
ery man ; and that property, or an exclusive right to 
dispose of what he Has honestly acquired by his own 



56 

labour, necessarily arises therefrom, are truths which 
common sense has placed beyond the reach of con- 
tradiction. And no man, or body of men, can, 
without being guilty of flagrant injustice, claim a 
right to dispose of the persons or acquisitions of 
any other man, or body of men, unless it can be 
proved that such a right has arisen from some com- 
pact between the parties in which it has been ex- 
plicitly and freely granted. 

If I may be indulged in taking a retrospective 
view of the first settlement of our country, it will be 
easy to determine with what degree of justice the 
late parliament of Great Britain have assumed the 
powxr of giving away that property which the 
Americans have earned by their labour. 

Our fathers having nobly resolved never to wear 
the yoke of despotism, and seeing the European 
world, at that time, through indolence and coward- 
ice, falling a prey to tyranny, bravely threw them- 
selves upon the bosom of the ocean, determined to 
find a place in which they might enjoy their free- 
dom, or perish in the glorious attempt. Approv- 
ing heaven beheld the favoui'ite ark dancing upon 
the waves, and graciously preserved it until the 
chosen families were brought in safety to these 
western regions. They found the land swarming 
with savages, who threatened death with every kind 
of torture. But savages, and death with torture, 
were far less terrible than slavery : nothing was so 
much the object of their abhorrence as a tyrant's 
power : they knew that it was more safe to dwell 
with man in his most unpolished state, than in a 
country where arbitrary power prevails. Even an- 
archy itself, that bugbear held up by the tools of 
power (though truly to be deprecated) is infinitely 
less dangerous to mankind than arbitrary govern- 
ment. Anarchy can be but of short duration : for 



57 

when men are at liberty to pursue that course which 
is most conducive to their own happiness, they will 
soon come into it, and from the rudest state of na- 
ture, order and good government must soon arise. 
But tyranny, when once established, entails its- 
curses on a nation to the latest period of time ; un- 
less some daring genius, inspired by heaven, shall, 
im appalled by danger, bravely form and execute the 
arduous design of restoring liberty and life to his 
enslaved, murdered country. 

The tools of pov/er, in every age, have racked 
their inventions to justify the few in sporting with 
the happiness of the many ; and, having found their 
sophistry too v/eak to hold mankind in bondage, 
have impiously dared to force religion, the daugh- 
ter of the king of heaven, to become a prostitute in 
the sendee of hell. They taught that princes, hon- 
oured with the name of christian, might bid defi- 
ance to the founder of their faith, might pillage Pa- 
gan qpuntries and deluge them with blood, only be- 
cause they boasted themselves to be the disciples 
of that teacher who strictly charged his followers to 
do to others as they would that others should do un^ 
to them. 

This country, having been discovered by an Eng- 
lish subject, in the year 1620, was (according to 
the system which the blind superstition of those 
times supported) deemed the property of the crown 
of England. Our ancestors, when they resolved to 
quit their native soil, obtained from king James, a 
grant of certain lands in North America. This 
they probably did to silence the cavils of their ene- 
mies, for it cannot be doubted, but they despised 
the pretended right which he claimed thereto* 
Certain it is, that he might, with equal propriety 
and justice, have made them a grant of the planet 
Jupiter. And their subsequent conduct plainly 



58 

shews that they were too well acquainted with hu- 
manity, and the principles of natural equity, to sup- 
pose that the grant gave them any right to take pos- 
session ; they therefore entered into a treaty with 
the natives, and bought from them the lands ; nor 
have I ever yet obtained any information that our 
ancestors ever pleaded, or that the natives ever re- 
garded the grant from the English crown : the 
business was transacted by the parties in the same 
independent manner that it would have been, had 
neither of them ever known or heard of the island 
of Great Britain. 

Having become the honest proprietors of the 
soil, they immediately applied themselves to the 
cultivation of it ; and they soon beheld the virgin 
earth teeming with richest fruits, a grateful recom- 
pense for their unwearied toil. The fields began to 
wave with ripening harvests, and the late barren 
wilderness was seen to blossom like the rose. The 
savage natives saw with wonder the delightful 
change, and quickl)-^ formed a scheme to obtain that 
by fraud or force, which nature meant as the reward 
of industry alone. But the illustrious emigrants 
soon convinced the rude invaders, that they were 
not less ready to take the field for battle than for la- 
bour ; and the insidious foe was driven from their 
borders as often as he ventured to disturb them. 
The crown of England looked with indifference on 
the contest ; our ancestors were left alone to com- 
bat with the natives. Nor is there any reason to 
believe, that it ever was intended by the one party, 
or expected by the other, that the grantor should 
defend and maintain the grantees in the peaceable 
possession of the lands named in the patents. And 
it appears plainly, from the history of those times, 
that neither the prince, nor the people of England^ 
tiiought themselves m.uch interested in the matter. 



6-9 

They had not then any idea of a thousandth part of 
those advantages which they since have, and we are 
most heartily willing they should still continue to 
reap from us. 

But when, at an infinite expense of toil and blood, 
this widely extended continent had been cultivat- 
ed anddefended : when the hardy adventurers just- 
ly expected that they and their descendants should 
peaceably have enjoyed the harvest of those fields 
which they had sown, and the fruit of those vine- 
yards which they had planted ; this country was 
then thought worthy the attention of the British 
ministry ; and the only justifiable and only success- 
ful means of rendering the colonies serviceable to 
Britain were adopted., By an intercourse of friend- 
ly offices, the two countries became so united in af- 
fection, that they thought not of any distinct or sep- 
arate interests, they found both countries flourish- 
ing and happy. Britain saw her commerce extend- 
ed, and her wealth increased ; her lands raised to an 
immense value ; her fleets riding triumphant on the 
ocean ; the terror of her arms spreading to every 
quarter of the globe. The colonist found himself 
free, and thought himself secure ; he dwelt under 
his own vine, and under his own fig tree, and had 
none to make him afraid : he knew indeed that by 
purchasing the manufactures of Great Britain, he 
contributed to its greatness : he knew that all the 
wealth that his labour produced centered in Great 
Britain : but that, far from exciting his envy, filled 
him with the highest pleasure ; that thought sup- 
ported him in all his toils. When the business of 
the day was past, he solaced himself with the con- 
templation, or perhaps entertained his listening 
family with the recital of some great, some glori- 
ous transaction which shines conspicuous in the his- 
tory of Britain ; or, perhaps, his elevated fancy led 



60 

him to foretel, with a kind of enthusiastic confi- 
dence, the glory, power, and chiration of an empire 
which should extend from one end of the earth to 
the other : he saw, or thought he saw, the British 
nation risen to a pitch of grandeur which cast a 
veil over the Roman glory, and, ravished with the 
praeview, boasted a race of British kings, whose 
names should echo through those realms where 
Cyrus, Alexander, and the Csssars v/ere unknown ; 
princes for whom millions of grateful subjects re- 
deemed from slavery and Pagan ignorance, should, 
with thankful tongues, oifer up their prayers and 
praises to that transcendently great and beneficent 
Being, by whom kings reign, and princes decree 
justice. 

These pleasing connections might have contin- 
ued ; these delightsome prospects might have been 
every day extended ; and even the reveries of the 
most warm imagination might have been realized ; 
but unhappily for us, unhappily for Britain, the 
madness of an avaricious minister of state, has 
drawn a sable curtain over the charming scene, 
and in its stead, has brought upon the stage, dis- 
cord, envy, hatred, and revenge, with civil war 
close in their rear. 

Some demon, in an evil hour, suggested to a 
short sighted financier, the hateful project of trans- 
ferring the v/hole property of the king's subjects in 
America, to his subjects in Britain. The claim of 
the British parliament totax the colonies, can never 
be supported but by such a transfer ; for the 
right of the House of Commons of Great Britain, 
to originate any tax, or grant money, is altogether 
derived from their being elected by the people of 
Great Britain to act for them ; and the people of 
Great Britain cannot confer on their representa- 
tives a right to give or grant any thing which they 



61 

themselves have not a right to give or grant person- 
ally. Therefore it follows, that if the members 
chosen by the people of Great Britain, to repre- 
sent them in parliament, have, by virtue of their 
being so chosen, any right to give or grant Ameri- 
can property, or to lay any tax upon the lands or 
persons of the colonists, it is because the lands and 
people in the colonies are bona fide, ov/ned by, and 
justly belonging to the people of Great Britain. 
But (as has been before observed) every man has 
a right to personal freedom, consequently a right 
to enjoy what is acquired by his own labour. And 
as it is evident that the property in this country has 
been acquired by our own labour ; it is the duty of 
the people of Great Britain, to produce some com- 
pact in which we have explicity given up to them a 
right to dispose of our persons or property. Until 
this is done, every attempt of theirs, or of those 
whom they have deputed to act for them, to give 
or grant any part of our property, is directly repug- 
nant to every principle of reason and natural justice. 
But I may boldly say, that such a compact never 
existed, no, not even in imagination. Nevertheless, 
the representatives of a nation, long famed fol' 
justice and the exercise of every noble virtue, have 
been prevailed on to adopt the fatal scheme : and 
although the dreadful consequences of this wicked 
policy have already shaken the empire to its centre ; 
yet still it is persisted in. Regardless of the voice 
of reason, deaf to the prayers and supplications, 
and unaffected with the flowing tears of suffering 
millions, the British ministry still hug the darling 
idol ; and every rolling year aifords fresh instances 
of the absurd d<?voticn with v.'hich they worship it. 
Alas ! how has the folly, the distraction cf the 
British councils, blasted our swelling hopes, and 
.spread a gloom over this western hemisphere. 



Ilie hearts of Britons and Americans, which 
lately felt the generous glow of mutual confidence 
and love, now burn with jealously and rage. 
Though, but of yesterday, I recollect (deeply affect- 
ed at the ill boding change) the happy hours that 
past whilst Britain and America rejoiced in the 
prosperity and greatness of each other (heaven grant 
those halcyon days may soon return.) But now 
the Briton too often looks on the American with an 
envious eye, taught to consider his just plea for the 
enjoyment of his earnings, as the effect of pride and 
stubborn opposition to the parent country. Whilst 
the American beholds the Briton as the ruffian, 
ready first to take away his property, and next, 
what is still dearer to every virtuous man, the 
liberty of his country. 

When the measures of administration had dis- 
gusted the colonies to the highest degree, and the 
people of Great Britian had, by artifice and false- 
hood, been irritated against America, an army was 
sent over to enforce submission to certain acts of the 
British parliament, which reason scorned to coun- 
tenance, and which placemen and pensioners were 
found unable to support. 

Martial law and the government of a well regulat- 
ed city, are so entirely different, that it has always 
been considered as improper to quarter troops in 
populous cities ; frequent disputes must necessarily 
arise between the citizen and the soldier, even if no 
previous animosities subsist. And it is further 
certain, from a consideration of the nature of man- 
kind, as well as from constant experience, that 
stancling armies always endanger the liberty of the 
subject. But when the people on the one part, 
considered the army as sent to enslave them, and the 
army on the other, were taught to look on the peo- 
ple as in a state of rebellion, it was but just to fear 



63 

the most disagreeable consequences. Our fears, 
we have seen, were but too well grounded. 

The many injuries offered to the town, I pass over 
in silence. I cannot now mark out the path which 
led to that unequalled scene of horror, the sad re- 
membrance of which, takes the full possession of 
my soul. The sanguinary theatre again opens itseli 
to view. The baleful images of terror crowd 
around me, and discontented ghosts, with hollow 
groans, appear to solemnize the anniversary of the 

FIFTH of MARCH. 

Approach we then the melancholy walk of death. 
Hither let me call the gay companion ; here let 
him drop a farewell tear upon that body which so 
late he saw vigorous and warm with social mirth ; 
hither let me lead the tender mother to weep ove r 
her beloved son ; come widowed mourner, here 
satiate thy grief ; behold thy miu'dered husband 
gasping on the ground, and to complete the pom- 
pous show of wretchedness, bring in each hand thy 
infant children to bewail their father's fate : take 
heed, ye orphan babes, lest, whilst your streaming 
eyes are fixed upon the ghastly corpse, your feet 
slide on the stones bespattered with your father's 
brains.* Enough ! this ti^agedy need not be height- 
ened by an infant weltering in the blood of him 
that gave it birth. Nature, reluctant, shrinks al- 
ready from the view, and the chilled blood rolls 
slowly backward to its fountain. We wildly stare 
about, and with amazement, ask, who spread this ru- 
in round us ? what wretch has dared deface the im- 
age of his God ? has haughty France, or cruel Spain, 
sent forth her myrmidons ? has the grim savage 

* After Mr. Gray had been shot through the body, and had fallen 
dead on the ground, a bayonet was pushed through his skull ; part 
of the bone being broken, his brains fell out upon the pavement 



64? 

rushed again from the far distant wilderness ? ok 
docs some fiend, fierce from the depth of hell, with 
all the rancorous malice, which the apostate damned 
can feel, twang her destructive bow, and hurl her 
deadly arrows at our breast ? no, none of these ; 
but, how astonishing ! it is the hand of Britain that 
inflicts the wound. The arms of George, our 
rightful king, have been employed to shed that 
blood, when justice, or the honour of his crown, 
had called his subjects to the field. 

But pity, grief, astonishment, with all the softer 
movements of the soul, must now give way to 
stronger passions. Say, fellow citizens, what 
dreadful thought now swells your heaving bosoms j 
you fly to arnis, sharp indignation flashes from each 
eye, revenge gnashes her iron teeth, death grins an 
hideous smile, secure to drench his greedy jaws in 
human gore, whilst hovering furies darken all the 
air. 

But stop, my bold adventurous countrymen, stain 
not your weapons with the blood of Britons. At- 
tend to reason's voice, humanity puts in her claim, 
and sues to be again admitted to her wonted seat, 
the bosom of the brave. Revenge is far beneath 
ihe noble mind. Many perhaps, compelled to rank 
among the vile assassins, do, from their inmost 
souls, detest the barbarous action. The winged 
death, shot from your arms, may chance to pierce 
soiTie breast that bleeds already for your injured 
country. 

The storm subsides ; a solemn pause ensues ; you 
spare, upon condition they depart. They go ; they 
quit your city ; they no more shall give offence. 
Thus closes the important drama. 

And could it have been conceived that we again 
should have seen a British army in our land, sent to 
enforce obedience to acts of parliament destructive 



65 

of our liberty. But the royal car, far distant from 
this western world, has been assaulted by the 
tongue of slander ; and villains, traitorous alike to 
king and country, have prevailed upon a gracious 
prince to clothe his countenance with wrath, and to 
erect the hostile banner against a people ever af- 
fectionate and loyal to him and his illustrious prede- 
cessors of the house of Hanover. Our streets are 
again filled with armed men; our harbour is crowd- 
ed with ships of war ; but these cannot intimidate 
us ; our liberty must be preserved ; it is far dearer 
than life, we hold it even dear as our allegiance ; we 
must defend it against the attacks of friends as well 
as enemies ; we cannot suffer even Britons to rav- 
ish it from us. 

No longer could we reflect, with generous pride, 
on the heroic actions of our American forefathers, 
no longer boast our orig^in from that far famed isl- 
and, whose warlike sons have so often drav/n their 
well tried swords to save her from the ravages of 
tyranny ; could we, but for a moment, entertain th6 
thought of giving up our liberty. The man who 
meanly will submit to wear a shackle, contemns the 
noblest gift of heaven, and impiously affronts the 
God that made him free. 

It was a maxim of the Roman people, which 
eminently conduced to the greatness of that statc^ 
never to despair of the commonwealth. The max- 
im may prove as salutary to us now, as it did to 
them. Short sighted mortals see not the nume- 
rous links of small and great events, which form 
the chain on which the fate of kings and nations is 
suspended. Ease and prosperity (though pleasing 
for a day) have often sunk a people into effemi- 
nacy and sloth. Hardships and dangers (though 
we for ever strive to shun them) have frequently 
called forth such virtues, as have commancled $he 

F3 



66 

applause and reverence of an admiring world. 
Our country loudly calls you to be circumspect, 
vigilant, active, and brave. Perhaps (all gracious 
Heaven avert it) perhaps, the power of Britain, a 
nation great in war, by some malignant influence, 
may be employed to enslave you : but let not even 
this discourage you. Her arms, it is true, have 
filled the world with terror : her troops have reap- 
ed the laurels of the field : her fleets have rode tri- 
umphant on the sea — and when, or where, did you, 
my countrymen, depart inglorious from the field of 
fight ?^ you too can shew the trophies of your fore- 
fathers victories and your ov/n ; can name the for- 
tresses and battles you have won ; and many of 
you count the honourable scars or wounds received, 
whUst fighting for your king and country. 

Where justice is the standard, heaven is the 
warrior's shield : but conscious guilt unnerves the 
arm that lifts the sword against the innocent. Brit- 
ain, united with these colonies, by commerce and 

* The patience with which this people have borne the repeated 
injuries which have been heaped upon them, and their unwilling- 
aess to take any sanguinary measures, has, very injudiciously, been 
ascribed to cowardice, by persons both here and in Great Britain. 
I most heartily wish, that an opinion, so erroneous in itself, and so 
fatal in its consequences, might be utterly removed before it be too 
?ate ; and I think, nothing further necessary to convince every in- 
telligent man, that the conduct of this people is owing to the tender 
regard which they have for their fellow men, and an utter abhor- 
rence to the sheading of human blood, than a little attention to 
their general temper and disposition, discovered when they cannot 
be supposed to be under any apprehension of danger to themselves. 
I will only mention the universal detestation which they shew to 
every act of cruelty, by whom and upon whomsoever committed ; 
the mild spirit of their laws ; the very few crimes to which capital 
penalties are annexed ; and the very great backv/ardness which 
both courts and juries discover, in condemning persons charged 
with capital crimes. But if any should think this observation not 
to the purpose, I readily appeal to those gentlemen of the army 
wb.o have been in the camp, or ia tiie field, with the Americans. 



affection, by interest and blood, may mock the 
threats of France and Spain : may be the seat of 
universal empire. But should America, either by 
force, or those more dangerous engines, luxury 
and corruption, ever be brought into a state of vas- 
salage, Britain m.ust lose her freedom also. No 
longer shall she sit the empress of the sea : her 
ships no more shall waft her thunders over the 
wide ocean : the wreath shall wither on her tem- 
ples : her weakened arm shall be unable to defend 
her coasts : and she, at last, m.ust bow her vener- 
able head to some proud foreigner's despotic rule. 

But if, from past events, we may venture to form 
a judgment of the future, we justly may expect that 
the devices of our enemies will but increase the tri- 
umphs of our country. I must indulge a hope that 
Britain's liberty, as well as ours, will eventually be 
preserved by the virtue of America. 

The attempt of the British parliament to raise a 
revenue from America, and our denial of their 
right to do it, have excited an almost universal in- 
quiry into the rights of mankind in general, and of 
British subjects in particular ; the necessary result 
of which must be such a liberality of sentiment, and 
such a jealousy of those in power, as will, better 
than an adamantine wall, secure us against the fu- 
ture approaches of despotism. 

The malice of the Boston port bill has been de^ 
feated in a very considerable degree, by giving you 
an opportunity of deserving, and our brethren in 
this and our sister colonies an opportunity of be- 
stowing, those benefactions which have delighted 
your friends and astonished your enemies, not only 
in America, but in Europe also. And what is more 
valuable still, the sympathetic feelings for a brother 
in distress, and the grateful emotions excited in the 
breast of him who finds relief, must forever endear 



each to the other, and form those indissoluble bonds 
of friendship and affection, on which the preserva- 
tion of our rights so evidently depend. 

The mutilation of our charter, has made every 
other colony jealous for its own ; for this, if once 
submitted to us, would set on float the property and 
government of every British settlement upon the 
continent. If charters are not deemed sacred, how 
miserably precarious is every thing founded upon 
them. 

Even the sending troops to put these acts in exe- 
cution, is not without advantages to us. The ex- 
actness and beauty of their discibline inspire our 
youth with ardour in the pursuit of military know- 
ledge. Charles the invincible, taught Peter the 
great, the art of war. The battle of Pultowa con- 
vinced Charles of the proficiency Peter had made. 

Our country is in danger, but not to be despaired 
of. Our enemies are numerous and powerful ; but 
we have many friends, determining to be free, and 
heaven and earth will aid the resolution. On you 
depend the fortunes of America. You are to de- 
cide the important question, on which rest the hap- 
piness and liberty of millions yet unborn. Act 
worthy of yourselves. The faltering tongue of 
hoary age calls on you to support your country. 
The lisping infant raises its suppliant hands, im- 
ploring defence against the monster slavery. Your 
fathers look from their celestial seats v/ith smiling 
approbation on their sons, v/ho boldly stand forth 
in the cause of virtue ; but sternly frown upon the 
inhuman miscreant, who, to secure the loaves and 
fishes to himself, would breed a serpent to destroy 
his children. 

But, pardon me, my fellow citizens, I know you 
want not zeal or fortitude. You will maintain your 
rights or perish in tlie generous struggle. Howev- 



69 

er difficult the combat, you never will decline it 
when freedom is the prize. An independence on 
Great Britain is not our aim. No, our wish is, 
that Britain and the colonies may, like the oak and 
ivy, grow and increase in strength together. But 
whilst the infatuated plan of making one part of the 
empire slaves to the other, is persisted in ; the in- 
terest and safety of Britain, as v/ell as the colonies, 
require that the wise measures, recomiriended by 
the honourable the continental congress, be steadily 
pursued ; whereby the unnatural contest between 
a parent honoured, and a child beloved, may prob- 
ably be bi ought to such an issue, as that the peace 
and happiness of both may be established upon a 
lasting basis. But if these pacific measures are in- 
effectual, and it appears that the only way to safety, 
is through fields of blood, I know you will not turn 
your faces from your foes, but will, undauntedly, 
press forward, until tyranny is trodden under foot, 
and you have fixed your adored goddess Liberty, 
fast by a Brunswick's side, on the American throne. 
You then, who nobly have espoused your coun- 
try's cause, who generously have sacrificed wealth 
and ease ; who have despised the pomp and shew 
of tinseled greatness ; refused the summcns to the 
festive board ; been deaf to the alluring calls of lux- 
ury and mirth ; who have forsaken the downy pil- 
low, to keep your vigils by the midnight lamp, for 
the salvation of your invaded country, that you 
might break the fowler's snare, and disappoint the 
vulture of his prey ; you then will reap that harvest 
of renown which you so justly have deserved. 
Your country shall pay her grateful tribute of ap- 
plause. Even the children of your most inveterate 
enemies, ashamed to tell from whom they sprang, 
while they in secret, curs- their stupid, cruel pa- 
rents, shall join the general voice of gratitude to 



70 

those who broke the fetters which their fathers 
forged. 

Having redeemed your country, and secured the 
blessing to future generations, who, fired by your 
example, shall emulate your virtues, and learn from 
you the heavenly art of making millions happy ; 
with heart felt joy, with transports all your own, 
you cry, the glorious work is done. Then drop 
the mantle to some young Elisha, and take your 
seats v/ith kindred spirits in your native skies. 



ORATION, 

MLIFERED at WATERTOIVN,* MARCH 5, 1776. 



BY PETER THACHER, M. A, 



Asellum in prato timidus pascebat senex 
Is, hostium clamore subito territus, 
Suadebat afino fugere, ne possent capi. 
At ille lentus : quaeso, num binas mihi, 
Clitellas Impositurum victorem putas ? 
Senex negavit. Ergo quid refert mea, 
Cui serviam ? Clitellas dum portem meas. 



MT FRISNDSf 

WHEN the ambition of princes induces, 
ihem to break over the sacred barriers of social 
compact, and to violate those rights, which it is their 
duty to defend, they will leave no methods unessay- 
ed to bring the people to acquiesce in their unjusti- 
fiable encroachments. 

In this cause, the pens of venal authors have, in 
every age, been drawn : with Machiaveiian subtil- 
ty, they have laboured, to persuade mankind, that 
their public happiness consisted in being subject to 
uncontrolled power ; that they were incapable of 
judging concerning the m-ysteries of government ; 
and that it was their interest to deliver their estates, 

* Boston was at this time garrisoned by the British troops, and 
the inhabitants were in the country ; which occasioned this oration 
to be delivered at Watertown. 



72 

their liberties, and their lives, into the hands of an 
absolute monarch. 

Mitred hypocrites, and cringing, base souled 
priests have impiously dared to enlist the oracles of 
God into the service of despotism ; to assert that, 
by the command of the supreme lawgiver, we are 
bound to surrender our rights into the hands of the 
first bold tyrant who dares to seize them ; and that 
when they are so seized, it is rebellion against 
God, and treason against the prince, for us to at- 
tempt to resume them. 

Depraved as is the human understanding, it hath 
yet strength enough to discern the ridiculous fallacy 
of these assertions ; the votaries of ignorance and 
superstition may, indeed, be imposed upon by 
them. When v/e place unlimited confidence in our 
civil or spiritual fathers, we can swallow, with ease, 
the most improbable dogmas ; but there are feel- 
ings in the human heart, which compel men to re- 
cognize their own rights, to venerate the majesty of 
the people, and to despise the insult which is offer- 
ed to their understandings, by these doating absurd- 
ities. Had princes no other methods to accomplish 
their purposes, could they not establish their usur- 
pation, without convincing men's judgments of their 
utility ? they would be more harmless to mankind 
than they have ever yet been. They might be sur- 
rounded with the fascinating gewgaws of regal 
pomp ; a few parasites might bow the knee b«fore 
these idols of their own creating ; the weak and the 
wicked might obey their mandates ; but the baneful 
influence which they now have upon the interests 
of individuals, and of society, would come to a pe- 
riod : they would not revel in the spoils of nations, 
nor trample upon the ruins of public liberty. 

Conscious of this, they have used arguments, 
atid pursued methods, entirely different from these., 



to effect their designs ; instead of convincing the 
understandings, they have addressed themselves to 
the passions of men : the arts of bribery and cor- 
ruption have been tried with a fatal success : men^ 
we know, have sold their children, their country, 
and their God, for a small quantity of painted dirt, 
which will perish with the using. 

Extensive as are the revenues of princes, they 
are still inadequate to the purpose of bribing large 
communities to submit to their pleasure ; corrupt- 
ing therefore a few, they have overawed the rest ; 
from small beginnings, and under specious pre- 
tences, they will raise a standing military force, the 
most successful engine ever yet wielded by the 
hand of lawless domination. 

With such a force, it is easy for an ambitious prince, 
possessed by nature of very slender abilities, to 
subvert every principle of liberty in the constitution 
of his government, and to render his people the 
most abject of slaves : if any individual feels the in- 
jury done to his country, and wishes to restore it to 
a state of happiness, with a bayonet at his breast, a 
dragoon will compel him to silence : if the people, 
awakened to see their interest and their duty, as- 
semble for the same purpose, a military force is at 
hand to subdue them, and by leaden arguments, to 
convince them of their error. 

An easy task would it be to enlarge upon the fatal » 
consequences ' of keeping up such a standing army 
in time of peace, and of quartering a lawless body 
of men, who despise the just restraints of civil au- 
thority, in free and populous cities : that no vestige 
of freedom can remain in a state where such a force 
exists : that the morals of the people will be grad- 
ually corrupted : that they will contract such an 
habit of tame submission, as to become an easy prey 
to the brutal tyrant who rules them, hath been here- 
G 



74 

tolore largely and plainly demonstrated, by persons 
so much more capable of doing it, than he who is 
speaking, that it would be presumption in him to at- 
tempt it now. There is no need of recurring to the 
ancient histories of Greece and Rome, for instances 
of these truths. The British nation, once famous 
for its attachment to freedom, and enthusiastically 
lealous of its rights, is now become a great tame 
beast, which fetches and carries for any minister 
who pleases to employ it. 

Englishmen have been wont to boast of the excel= 
lence of their constitution ; to boast that it contain- 
ed whatever was excellent in every form of gov- 
ernment hitherto, by the wit of man, devised : in 
their king, whose power was limited, they have as- 
serted that they enjoyed the advantages of monar- 
chy, without fear of its evils : while their House of 
Commons, chosen by the suffrages of the people, 
and dependent upon them, represented a republic, 
their House of Peers, forming a balance of power 
between the king and the people, gave them the ben- 
efit of an aristocracy. In theory, the British con- 
stitution is on many accounts, excellent ; but when 
we observe it reduced to practice, when we observe 
the British government, as it has been, for a long 
course of years, administered, we must be convin- 
ced that its boasted advantages are not real : the 
management of the public revenue, the appointment 
of civil and military ofticers, are vested in the king : 
improving these advantages which these powers 
give him, he hath found means to corrupt the other 
branches of the legislature ; Britons please them- 
selves with the thought of being free ; their tyrant 
suffers them to enjoy the shadow, whilst he himself 
grasps the substance of power. Impossible would 
it have been for the kings of England to have ac- 
quired such an exorbitant power, had they not bad 



75 

a standing army under their command : v/ith tlie 
officers of this army, they have bribed men to sacri- 
fice the rights of their country : having artfully got 
their arms out of the hands of the people, with their 
mercenary forces they have awed them into sub- 
mission. When they have appeared, at any time, 
disposed to assert their freedom, these troops have 
been ready to obey the mandates of their sovereign, 
to imbrue their hands in the blood of their brethren. 

Having found the efficacy of this method to quell 
a spirit of liberty in the people of Great Britian, the 
righteous administration of the righteous king 
George the third, determined to try the experiment 
upon the people of America. To fright us into 
submission to t];ieir unjustifiable claims, thy sent a 
military force to the town of Boston. This' day 
leads us to reflect upon the fatal effects of the mea- 
sure ! by their intercourse with troops, made up in 
general of the most abandoned of men, the morals 
of our youth were corrupted ; the temples and the 
day of our God were scandalously profaned : we 
experienced the most provoking insults ; and at 
length saw the streets of Boston strewed with the 
corpses of five of its inhabitants, murdered in cool 
blood, by the British mercenaries. 

The indignant rage which swelled your bosoms 
upon this occasion, the fortitude and humanity 
which you discovered, the anguish of the friends 
and relatives of the dead and wounded, with all the 
horrors of that memorable night, have been painted 
in vivid colours by an Hancock and a Warren : 
they have shewn the necessity of those exertions 
made by the town, v/hich defeated, at that time, the 
designs of the enemies to American liberty, and pre- 
served us, for the present, from the calamitesof war« 

But the past year hath presented us with a trag- 
edy more striking, because more extensive, thfin 



this : a tragedy, which more plainly proves the 
fatal effects of keeping up standing armies in time 
of peace, than any arguments whatsoever : we have 
seen the ground crimsoned with the gore of hundreds 
of our feiiow citizens ; we have seen the first city in 
America, for wealth and extent, depopulated ; we 
have seen others destroyed, and heard our savage 
enemies breathing gut thirstings for our blood. 

Finding their arts insufficient to flatter, or their 
treasures to bribe, the people of America out of 
their freedom, the British government determined, 
by force, to subjugate them to their arbitrary will j 
in consequence of this determination, a large party 
of their troops marched from. Boston, on the morn- 
ing of the ever memorable nineteenth of April last : 
Hushed v/ith the hopes of certain victory, and defy- 
ing the armies of the living God, they broke through 
every divine and political obligation ; they wanton- 
ed in cruelty ; they shed again American blood. 

Aroused by the unprovoked injury, like a lion, 
awaking from his slumber, we sprang to arms ! we 
felt ourselves inspired with the spirit of our ances- 
tors ; v/e heard our brethren's blood crying to us 
for vengeance ; we rushed into the midst of battle : 
we compelled our enemies to betake themselves to 
disgraceful flight ; we pursued them with avidity, 
and desisted not till they took refuge in that city, of 
v/hich, by fraud and treachery, they had possessed 
themselves. 

Trusting to the divine protection, from that hour 
we determined never to sheathe the sword, till we 
had reparation for our injuries ; till we had secured 
our own freedom and the freedom of our posterity : 
from that hour the den of enemies hath been sur- 
rounded by an American army, brave and deter- 
mined : although they had before boasted of their 
fcuperiority to all the troops ia the world, they have 



77 

scarcely dared to set their feet out of their strong 
holds since that time ; and instead of ravaging the 
American continent in a single campaign, with a 
single regiment, they have proceeded — one mile and 
an halfm the conquest of it. 

The heights of Charlestown witnessed to the 
world, that Americans, fighting in the cause of 
freedom, were a formidable foe : although they 
were surrounded by troops hitherto deemed invin- 
cible ; although they saw thu habitations of their 
countrymen inveloped with flames ; although can- 
non roared on every quarter, and they beheld 
scenes of desolation and bloodshed, to v/hich they 
were entirely unused, yet they retired not, until 
they had compelled their enemy twice to retreat, 
and had expended the whole of their ammunition : 
the British forces gained the ground, but they lost 
the flower of their army. 

From one end of the continent to the other, a series 
of successes hath attended the American arms ; in- 
stead of having troops of savages poured down to 
our frontiers (which the murderous policy of the ty- 
rant of Britain induced him to attempt) we have, 
through the favour of heaven, carried our victori- 
ous arms into the very bowels of Canada ; instead 
of having our stores and provisions cut off by the 
enemy, v/e have made important captures from 
them : success hath crowned our enterprizes, while 
disappointment hath followed those who oppose us. 

That elation of spirit, which is excited by our 
victories, is damped by our feeling the calamities 
of war. To hear the expiring groans of our be- 
loved countrymen ; to behold the flames of our 
habitations, once the abodes of peace and plenty, 
ascending to heaven ; to see ruin and desolation 
spread over our fruitful villages, must occasioFv 
sensations in the highest degree painful. 

G9 



78 

This day, upon which the gloomy scene was 
first opened, calls upon us to mourn for the heroes 
who have already died in the bed of honour, fight- 
ing for God and their country. Especially, does 
it lead us to recollect the name and the virtues of 
Genei-al Warren ! the kind, the humane, the be- 
nevolent friend, in the private walks of life ; the 
inflexible patriot, the undaunted commander in his 
public sphere, deserves to be recollected with grat- 
itude and esteem ! this audience, acquainted in 
the most intimate manner, with his numberless 
virtues, must feel his loss, and bemoan their belov- 
ed, their entrusted fellow citizen ! ah ! my coun- 
trymen, what tender, what excruciating sensation^ 
rush at once upon our burdened minds, when we 
recal his loved idea ! when we reflect upon the 
manner of his death ; when we fancy that we see 
his savage enemies exulting over his corpse, beau- 
tiful even in death ; when we remember that, des- 
titute of the rites of sepulture, he was cast into the 
ground, without the distinction due to his rank and 
merit ; we cannot restrain the starting tear, we 
V annot repress the bursting sigh ! we mourn thine 
exit, illustrious shade, with undissembled grief ; 
we venerate thine exalted character ; we v/ili erect 
I monument to thy memory in each of our grateful 
breasts, and to the latest ages, will teach our tender 
infants to lisp the name of Warren, with venera- 
tion and applause ! 

When we traverse the Canadian wilds, and 
iiome to the plains of Abraham, where Wolfe, 
once fell, we are there again compelled to pay a 
vribute to exalted merit, and to lament the fall of 
the great Montgomery ! warmed with a spirit of 
patriotism, too little felt by his venal countrymen, 
he espoused the cause of American freedom : he 
\ch domestic e^se and affluence : he girded on the 



79 

sword which he had long laid aside, and jeoparded 
his life in the high places of the field : victory fol- 
lowed his standard ; she hovered over his head, 
and crowned it with the laurel wreath : she was 
just ready to hail him the conqueror of Canada, 
when the fatal sisters snapped, in a moment, the 
thread of life, and seized, from his eager grasp, 
the untasted conquest ! Americans, bear witness 
to his humanity and his valour, for he died fighting 
in 5^our cause, and the cause of mankind ! let his 
memory live in your breasts ; let it be handed 
down to your posterity, that millions, yet unborn 
may rise up and call him blessed ! 

The tender feelings of the human heart are 
deeply affected with the fate of these and the other 
heroes who have bled and died, that their country 
may be free : but at the same time, sensations of 
indignant wrath, are excited in the breast of every 
friend to freedom : he will listen to the voice of 
their blood, which cries aloud to heaven, and to 
him for vengeance ! he will feel himself animated 
with new vigour in the glorious cause : nothing 
daunted by their untimely fate, he will rush into 
the midst of danger, that he may share their glory, 
and avenge their death ! every idea which can 
warm and animate him to glorious deeds, will rush 
at once upon his mind ; and, when engaged in the 
warmest battle, he will hear them, from their hea- 
ven, urging him to action ; he will feel their spir- 
its transfused into his breast ; he will sacrifice 
whole hecatombs of their murderers to their illus- 
trious manes ! 

Indeed, my countrymen, the people of America 
have every thing to animate and encourage them 
in the present contest. Formidable as was once 
the power of the British lion, he hath now lost his 
teeth 5 universal dissipation h?,th taken place of 



80 

that simplicity of manners, and hardiness of integ- 
rity, for which the nation was once remarkable : 
the officers of the British army, instead of inuring 
themselves to discipline, and seeking for glory in 
the blood stained field, wish alone to captivate the 
softer sex, and triumph over their virtue. The 
legislature of Great Britain is totally corrupt ; her 
administration is arbitrary and tyrannical ; the 
people have lost their spirit of resentment ; and, 
like the most contemptible of animals, bow the 
shoulder to bear and become servants unto tribute. 
The national resources are cut off ; she is loaded 
with an intolerable public debt ; she is become the 
scorn of those foreigners, to whom she was once 
terrible ; and it is easy to see that her glory is in 
the wane. 

How different from this is the present state of 
our country ; descended from a race of hardy an- 
cestors, who loved their freedom better than they 
loved their lives ; the Americans are jealous of 
the least infringement of their rights ; strangers 
to that luxury, which effeminates the mind and 
body, they are capable of enduring incredible hard- 
ships ; with eagerness they rush into the field of 
battle, and brave, with coolness, every danger : 
they possess a rich and a fruitful country, sufficient 
to supply them with every necessary and conve- 
nience of life ; they have inexhaustible resources 
for carrying on war, and bid fair soon to be court- 
ed for their alliance, by the proudest monarchs of 
the earth. Their statesmen are equal to the task 
of forming and defending a free and extensive em- 
pire ; their generals a^e brave and humane, intre- 
pid and prudent* When I name a Washington, 
my audience will feel the justice of the remark, 
and acquit m^ of the charge of flattery. 



^1 

Possessed of these advantages, we should be iti- 
excusable to God, to our posterity, to the whole 
world, if we hesitated, a single moment, in assert- 
ing oui^ rights and repelling the attacks of law- 
less power. Freedom is offered to us ; she invites 
us to accept her blessings ; driven from the other 
regions of the globe, she wishes to find an asylum 
in the wilds of America ; with open arms let us re- 
ceive the persecuted fair ; let us imitate the exam- 
ple of our venerable ancestors, who loved and 
courted her into these desert climes. With deter- 
mined bravery, let us resist the attacks of her im- 
pudent ravishers ; by resolution and firmness we 
may defend her from their power, and transmit 
her blessings to millions upon millions of our pos- 
terity. Let us then arouse to arms ; for, upon our 
exertions, under God, depends their freedom ; 
upon our exertions depends the important question 
whether the rising empire of America, shall be an 
empire of slaves or of freemen. 

Animated by these considerations, my friends 
and fellow citizens, let us strain every nerve in the 
service of our country ! what are our lives, when 
viewed in competition with the happiness of such 
an empire ! what is our private interest v/hen op- 
posed to that of three millions of men ! let our bos- 
oms glow with the warmth of patriotism ; let us 
sacrifice our ease, our fortunes, and our lives, that 
we may save our country. 

That a spirit of public virtue may transcend ev- 
ery private consideration, you, the respected in- 
habitants of the town of Boston, have plainly mani- 
fested : with pleasure you have sacrificed what 
selfish men hold most dear, to save this oppressed 
land ! with firmness you have resisted every attack 
of arbitrary power ! like the sturdy oak, you have 



82 

stood unmoved, and to you, under God, will be 
owing the salvation of this extensive continent. 

We feel, my beloved friends, our obligations to 
you ! our hearts confess them ; we cordially wish 
it were in our power to reward you for your patri- 
otism ; to restore you to that ease and affluence, 
of which, for our sakes, you have deprived your- 
selves ; it is not. But our morning and evening 
petitions to the guardian God of America shall be, 
that he will bless and reward you. 

With transport, my countrymen, let us look for- 
ward to the bright day, which shall hail us a free 
and independent state. With earnestness let us 
implore the forgiveness and the patronage of the 
Being of all beings, who holds the fate of empires 
in his hands ! with zeal let us exert ourselves in 
the service of our country, in life : and when the 
earthly scene shall be closing with us, let us expire 
with this prayer upon our quivering lips* O God 
let America be free ! 



ORATION, 

BELIVERED AT BOSTON^>M.ARCH 5>. 1777. 



BY BENJAMIN HIGHBORN, ESQ. 



-—Turn vos, O Tyrii, stirpem et genus omne futuruni 
Exercete odiis ; cinerlque haec mittite nostro 
Mumera : nullus amor populis, nee fsdera sunto, 

ViRGlI. 
FRIENDS AND COUNTRYMEN, 

LEAVING apologies for my inability to 
act the part I am to take, io this day's solemnity, to 
those who might have remedied the evil, by a more 
suitable appointment, I shall offer my sentiments 
upon the subject with the same freedom that I con- 
ceived them. 

The advantages of social life, are the result of 
such evident necessity, so extensively diffusive and 
universally felt, that all mankind will readily ac* 
knowledge their existence without the aid of meta- 
physics or history. 

The right that every individual has to reason 
freely upon the nature of that government he is 
called to submit to, having nature for its source, is 
no less obvious and perceptible ; and hence, as a 
necessary foundation for the exercise of this right, 
I define civil liberty to be, not " a government by 
laws," made agreeable to charters, bills of rights or 
compacts, but a power existing in the people at 
large, at any time, for any cause, or for no cause, 
but their own sovereign pleasure, to alter or aunt- 



84 

hilate both the mode and essence of any former 
government, and adopt a new one in its stead. 

Placing ourselves then upon this broad basis of 
civil liberty, founded on natural right, we will, un- 
awed by the standing armies of any tyrant's tools,* 
or monarchs, deliberate freely upon the nature of 
their institutions, and their dangerous tendency to 
the rights of man. 

Every military force must necessarily imply a 
right of exercising an arbitrary power, so far as re- 
spects the objects against which it is to be directed ; 
and what will be the objects, against which it will 
be in constant exercise, in proportion to its extent, 
we may collect from the experience of ages, and the 
well known source of human actions. 
• The page of history seldom groans with the ca- 
lamities of mankind ; but we may trace the source 
of their unhappiness to this engine of oppression. 

Projected in the blackest principles of the human 
mind, and supported by ambition and a lust of un- 
bounded sway, this armed monster hath spread hav- 
ock and misery throughout the world. We find the 
bloody traces of its footsteps through all the ruins of 
greatness and freedom, either in ancient or modern 
times : the most free and opulent cities of the world, 
by conniving at its birth, have, at last, fallen a prey 
to its relentless fury.f 

While we are ravished with the politeness, wis- 
dom, and greatness of the Grecian states, we can 
scarce believe that the productions of such art, re- 
finement, and learning, should ever be subdued by 

* The petty states and princes who have raised their armies as a 
peasant would his game cocks, and sent them to market for a price, 
are in the most infamous sense of the word, tools. 

f Pisistratus of Athens, Dyonisius of Syracuse, and Caesar of Rome, 
furnish a few among numberless examples, that history affords. 



So 

a power that never could have crept into life, but 
through the channel of their indulgence. 

But alas ! their fate remains a standing monu- 
ment of this truth, that freedom, at sufferance, is 
a solecism in politics. 

To avoid thr- pain that humanity must suffer, 
upon finding so few instances of virtue that have 
been proof against the temptations to prostitute a del- 
egated power, I am inclined to think, that the great 
FOUNDER of societies has caused the curse of in- 
fatuating ambition, and relentless cruelty to be en- 
tailed on those whose vanity may lead them to as- 
sume his prerogative among any of his people, as 
they are cantoned about in the world, and to pre- 
vent mankind from paying that adoration and re- 
spect to the most dignified mortal, which is due 
only to infinite wisdom and goodness in the direc- 
tion of almighty power, and therefore that he alone 
is fit to be a monarch. 

Were we to traverse the whole field of human 
transactions, and expect any where to find an ex- 
emption from this general charge, we should most 
naturally fix our eyes upon the Romans : but how 
mortified do we find ourselves by the survey ? 

At the very time this people were most famed 
for their virtue and greatness ; while they were re- 
galing themselves with luxurious ease in the lap of 
freedom ; the provinces they obtained by fraud and 
violence, were suffering under every species of the 
vilest servitude, and made to contribute to that 
very ease and luxury at the discretion of the most 
merciless unfeeling task masters. 

But they themselves, by the same tools they had 
armed to execute their bloody purposes, in their 
turn, became the subjects of the same kind of op- 
pression they so liberally dealt out to others, and 
H 



86 



stand recorded in history equal moimments of the 
greatness and depravity of human nature. 

Taught by the experience of former ages, that a 
general, at the head of an armed force, would ever 
make himself superior to the laws ; Europe, for 
several centuries, raised effectual barriers against 
the danger (and, I may say, the possibility) of their 
usurpations ; for the tenure* of their lands, though 
they acknov/ledge a superior lord, was upon con- 
ditions so abhorrent to the idea of standing armies, 
that it offered at once, both a promise and a pledge 
against them. 

But to convince us that no human institutions 
can insure permanent felicity to mankind, security, 
the offspring of ease and freedom, opened the door 
for one enterprising usurper after another,! till the 
inhabitants of the whole eastern world had but little 
left of the property of their species but what they 
possessed in their shape. 

Strange metamorphosis ! but is it not much 
stranger still, to see these pitiable wretches stript 
of every enjoyment that can render life a blessing, 
meanly courting favour and protection from the ty- 
rants who enslaved them, and easily mistaking the 
chains of servitude for the garb of nature ? 

The formalities of a free, and the ends of a des- 
potic state (says a modern writer) have often sub- 
sisted together. Britain furnishes a most unhap- 
py example of this shocking truth : as if the relish 
of liberty was pampered to make slavery itself more 
intolerably loathsome, they feel all the mortifying 
consequences of the basest servitude, and are left 
to console themselves with this consideration, that 

* The feudal tenure. 

f Cliarles VII. Lewis XI. of France, leaving set the example, all 
the crowned heads m Europe soon foUowea it. 



87 

the weight of their grievances can never be in- 
creased, while they are complimented, or rather 
tantalized with the name of freemen. These are 
some of the glorious effects of standing armies 
among foreign nations. Let us now consider their 
consequences in that part of the world, in whose 
affairs r/e take a more interesting part» 

It is easy to conceive that those men who would 
not scruple to make use of every artifice and vio- 
lence to reduce the very people to whose generosi- 
ty they were indebted for their splendour, wealth, 
and greatness, to a state of vassalage, wpuld never 
hesitate to make their conquests as extensive as 
their pov/er ; they can feel the influence of no law 
but that of the sword, and therefore (whatever may 
be their pretensions) you will, in every case, find 
them ultimately make an appeal to its decisions. 

If such are the governors, what must the people- 
be ? having been robbed of liberty themselves, with- 
out the faintest struggle in its defence'^, they are 
just fit to be made the instruments of wresting it 
from others. 

How can we expect that they who know nothing 
of the happiness of freedom themselves, should feel 
any reluctance at reducing all mankind to their own 
disgraceful situation I indeed the reverse is true, 
for we generally find them taking an unnatural plea- 
sure, in stripping others of the noblest ornaments 
and gifts of nature, to countenance their own defor- 
mity and wretchedness. 

A trifling farce, therefore, upon the question of 
right in parliament., v/as all the previous parade that 
was thought necessary to the introduction of a 

* The murder of two or three people in St. George's fields, seems 
to be all the ceremony attending the death and burial of British lib* 
crty. 



88 

Standing army, with all the ensigns of war, into the 
bowels of our country. 

It is needless to recount the various prekides to 
hostilities ; the fatal day we now commemorate, o- 
pened a scene that tilled every honest mind with in- 
dignation, and every tender heart with distress.* 

It is impossible for any who were not witnesses 
of that shocking event, to conceive the terrors of 
that dreadful night ; and they who were, must have 
images of horror upon the mind they never can 
communicate. 

The v^iety of contending passions that once fall 
upon and distract the mind, upon the arrival of such 
an important crisis, can never be realized but once. 

To see the peaceful inhabitants of a city, deliber- 
ately murdered by the very men, who, in pretence, 
were supported for their protection ; to hear the 
piercing groans ; to see the mangled bodies and 
ghastly visages of the dying and the dead ; to hear 
the shrieks and cries of the timid, with the promis- 
cuous, mingling horrid sound of arms, execrations, 
and vengeance, produced a scene of confusion and 
v/retchedness, so complicated and complete, that 
the povv^er of the richest language must ever fail in 
describing it.f The eye of pity is yet called to 
drop a tear at the sufferings, and patriotism to pour 
the balm of charity over the wounds of halt mur- 
dered citizens, dragging out a miserable life, and 
-fresh bleeding with the blows aimed at our country. 

We could dwell, with a melancholy pleasure, on 
this sad catastrophe, did not a more ample field of 



-Ouis talia fando, 



^vTvrmidonum, dolopumve, aut duri miles ulyssei, 

'J'emperet a lackrymis. viRCji 

f Non mihi si linguse centum sint, craque centum, 
Ferrea vox, omnes scelerum comprendere form as 
. possim viRGii. 



89 

violence, bloodshed, and cruelty, demand our atten 
tion. 

The palpable absurdity of making use of the 
name of a king, to give a sanction to those very 
operations which were carrying on against him, has 
been so sensibly felt, through all ranks of men, that 
we have not yet altogether got rid of its disagreea- 
ble effects. 

And I must confess I should blush at the ludi- 
crous figure in which this part of our history must 
exhibit to view, in future time, were we not counte- 
nanced by the same, or more striking inconsisten- 
cies which are to be found attendant (and perhaps 
necessarily so) upon all important revolutions. 

We can easily conceive a mixture of prejudice and 
fear, that will excite such awful ideas of the person, 
to whom we have been taught from our cradles, to 
annex the properties of a most gracious sovereign, 
most sacred majesty, and a train of such godlike 
attributes, as would make us feel conscious of a de- 
gree of impiety, in calling a villain by his proper 
name, while shrouded under this garb of sanctity. 

But it is exceedingly diverting to view the influ- 
ence of this chimerical divinity in those who are 
made the immediate tools of supporting it ; they 
will tell you it is a task most ungrateful to men of 
their sensibility and refinement, to be made the in- 
struments of sending fire and death indiscriminate- 
ly among the innocent, the helpless, and the fair ^ 
but they have sworn to be faithful to their sove- 
reign, and were they ordered to scale the walls of 
the new Jerusalem, they should not dare to decline 
the impious attempt. 

Were it not for this ridiculous faith in the om- 
nipotence of the tyrant whom they serve, we must 
suppose them fools or madmen : indeed, that ve- 
ry faith would justify the charge of extreme mad- 

H S 



90 

iicss and folly against all mankind, viho had not 
been nurtured in this cradle of infatuation. 

Were it not for the indulgence that a generous 
mind will always shew to the v/eakness and preju- 
dices of the worst of men, many whom the chance 
of war has thrown into our hands, must have felt 
the severity and contempt of a justly enraged peo- 
ple, while they, with all their vanity and ostenta- 
tion, remain the unhurt objects of our pity. 

It is surely rather a subject of merry ridicule, 
than deserving of serious resentment, to see many 
of this kind of gentry affecting to deny the char- 
acter of prisoners, and attributing that indulgence 
which is the effect of unparalleled generosity, to the 
mean moti\ e of fear ; but we will let them know, 
that they cannot provoke us even to jujstlce in the 
line of punishment, and we leave them to their 
own consciences and the impartial censures of sur- 
rounding nations, to make some returns for the 
unexampled cruelties that many of our friends 
have suffered from their barbarous hands'^ j in 
lieu of that severity, which, however just, humani- 
ty shudders to inflict. But we cannot think it 
strange to find people in the subordinate depart- 
ments of life, influenced by such ridiculous notions, 
while their haughty masters seem to labour under 
the misfortune of the same infatuation. 

* Capt. John son and Iiis crew, the prisoners in general at New- 
York and Halifax, Mr. Loveli and many others in Boston, are in- 
.siances sufficient to destroy the little credit they ever had for hu- 
manity ; and the sufferings of some to which I have myself been a 
witness, exposed to all the inconveniences and hazards of a lan- 
guishing disease in confmement on shipboard, in view of the per- 
sons and habitations of their nearest friends, and a sympathizing 
parent turned over the side, v/ith reproaches for attempting to 
ipeaic to his sick, sulFering, dying child, must give the characters of 
the po'itc, sensible, humane Admiral Graves, and his nephew Sam. a 
stnro.p cf infamv, which the power of v.xdjs cas never wipe away. 



91 

Slaves rdways rate the consequence of those 
they serve, by the treatment they receive from 
them, and wonder that others do not feel the 
weight of the same importance. 

To call men of distinguished rank, in any gov- 
ernment, knaves, fools, and scoundrels, however 
they may deserve it, is esteemed neither polite or 
decent : I am, therefore at a loss for names while 
I am describing the oppressors of my country. 
Who, without deserving these reproachful appella- 
tions, could have conceived the horrid wish of 
decking his crown, with the idle plume of foreign 
empire, at the expense of the peace, weakh, and 
very being of a nation ? and who but a pompous 
blockhead, in the execution of this impious design, 
could expect to conquer a hardy, virtuous set of 
men, by ineffectual threats and empty promises^ 
contained in a set of proclamations, he wanted 
either courage or povv^er to disperse among the 
people they were designed to subdue ?* 

Possibly they may conceive the length of their 
master's purse, at the rate of thirty crowns a man, 
to be equal to all the armed force of Europe, and 
therefore they should be able ultimately to effect 
that by the point of the bayonet, which they rather 
wished, than expected, to obtain on any other 
terms. 

Here let us pause, and for the honour of our spe- 
cies, give a moment to reflection upon this shock- 
ing idea ! is it possible that any of the race of man, 
should be so lost to a sense of the rights of nature, 
and the dignity of their rank in the chain of be- 
ings, as to suffer themselves (like the horses which 
they ride) to be tutored to the field of war, to have 

* The Generals Gage and Howe, have been playing this ^'^ar- 
like game ever s;nce they have been in the country. 



92 

a price set upon their lives, which their masters 
will receive, and then be sold into the service of 
lust, ambition, and avarice, and become the tools 
of eternal war against the lives, the properties, and 
freedom of the rest of mankind ? 

But thanks to heaven ! this black combination of 
passions, supported by the unmasked tyrant of Brit- 
ain, with all the mercenary forces of his powerful 
and extensive allies, have hitherto proved unsuc- 
cessful (and I trust in God they ever will) in every 
eifort to contaminate the only column of free air in 
both hemispheres ; however, one advantage we 
derive from their open attempts, which is to expect 
no security for ourselves, but in their ruin ; delib- 
erate murders, indiscriminate plunder, and the 
most barbarous violence upon the delicacy and vir- 
tue of the fair, have marked the few paces of imag- 
inary conquest they have trod.* 

Methinks I see the tender parent, frantic with 
rage, defying hosts of ruffians armed, and courting 
death in every dismal from, rather than live the 
witness of his daughter's shame ; — ah ! hear the 
shrieks of virgin innocence calling in vain for suc- 
cour from that arm which oft defended her I but 
see the htlpless victim of their brutish lust, in wild 
despair, v/ringing her guiltless hands, with looks to 
heaven, as if without a crime, she had lost her only 
title to those pure abodes ! where is the coward 
heart that does not beat to arms, and glow with un- 
usual ardour for revenge ? 

Where are friends to reconciliation, with these 
foes to virtue ? they will tell us their power is for- 
midable, and it is wise to accommodate ourselves 

* See accounts of their proceedings in the Jersies, and general 
cjrders in the orderly book taken at Trenton. 



93 

to the requisitions of superior force j as soon I'd 
tamper with the power of hell ! for 

*^ 'Tis the worst of slavery 

** Tamely to bend our necks beneath the yoke 
<• And suffer fraud to talk us out of freedom." 

They wish to sooth but to destroy us ; and i^ 
this stale artifice of tyrants should succeed, we well 
deserve the ruin it ensures : they never ask for 
what they can demand, and impotence alone pre- 
vents a general carnage. 

Does courage want a stimulus in the defence of 
virtue ? let us cast our eyes on the example of our 
illustrious general ; equally beyond the reach of cal- 
umny and encomium ; the tongue of slandtr has 
never dared to attack him, while the ablest pane- 
gyrist must blush when he is attempting to give him 
half the eulogiums which are his due. 

The generouG sacrifice he has made of private in- 
terest, dom.estic felicity, and all the consequent 
refined enjoyments of social life, to the exigencies 
of his country in the field of war : the cheerfulness 
with which he has sustained all the hardships, anx- 
ieties, and disappointments of two important cam- 
paigns, against a formidable body of well disciplined 
veterans, with an army composed of men different 
in their manners, and unused to the discipline of a 
camp, without exciting the smallest jealousies in the 
civil power 6n the one hand, or giving occasion for 
the faintest murmurs among his soldiers on the 
other. And finally, when his enemies were at the 
zenith of their glory, and in imagination, alreadj-^ein 
possession of a conquered world ; with the rem- 
nant of his expiring army, to resume the field, and 
with this handful of his chosen followers, disperse, 
destroy, or captivate whole hosts of foes, must ex- 
cite sentiments of affection, gratitude, and esteem, 
that border upon adoration. 



94 

Did not a life of the most disinterested patriot- 
ism and unremitted ardour in the cause of virtue 
and of mankind, point him out as an exception to 
the charge we have so fully supported against all 
who lived before him ? I should dread more from 
the virtues of this great man, than from all the stand- 
ing armies in the world. 

But so full a confidence do I possess in his invio- 
lable attachment to the rights of humanity and the 
cause of freedom, that in some future emergencies 
of the state (produced perhaps by the shifting for- 
tune of war) to his instinctive goodness and eccen- 
tric operations, I would most cheerfully commit 
supreme command. 

I will explain my sentiments upon this subject, 
by those of a friend, in his own words. 

" 'Tis best that reason govern man, 
'TIs calm, deliberate, -wise. 
Yet passions were not given in vain, 
Here then the difference lies. 

Reason, though sure, too «k)w is found 
In great emergencies. 
While passion instant feels the wound, 
As quick the cure applies. 

Yet that must not due bounds transgress, . 
But move at reason's nod, 
Submit at last to her decrees 
And own her for the God. 

'Twas thus the synod of onr land, 
The reasoning power of state, 
Gave Washington supreme command 
And made his orders fate. 

Yet as necessity impelled 
The step : when that is past 
The senate shall resume the ileld 
And reign supreme at last." 

In support of such a cause, directed by such a 
leader, who would think his life too dear a sacri- 



95 

iice i Let the mean, base, groveling soul, that wish- 
es for security on any terms, through fear forget 
he is a man, cringe to the creature he despises, 
smile on the man he hates, alternately shake hands 
with vice and virtue, and court protection from the 
power he wishes to destroy ! Let us, my friends, 
determined to maintain our sacred rights, or per- 
ish in the attempt,^ with vigour urge the war, 
frown on our foes wherever we meet them, despise 
their mercy when we feel their power, and from 
this moment hold ourselves beyond the reach of 
pardon. 

* Justum et tenacem, propositi virum 
Non civium ardor, prava jubentium 
Non vultus instantis tyranrii 
Mente quatit solida. 










ORATION, 

DELIFEREDAT BOSTON, MARCH 5, 1778. 



BY JONATHAN W. AUSTIN, ESQ. 



■ Multaque rubentia Csede 
Lubrica Saxa madent, nulli sua profuit ^tas. 

I,UCAN, Lib. 2. 

Hie ubi barbarus hostis, 

Ut fera plus valeant legibus arma facit. 

Ovid de ponto. 
Quis cladem illius noctis, quis funera fando 
Explicet ? aut possit Lacrymis sequare labores ? 
Piurima perque vias sternuntur inertia passim 
Corpora. Virgil, 2d jeneid. 

MY FRIENDS AND FELLOTV CITIZENS, 

TO weep over the tomb of the patriot ; t© 
drop a tear to the memory of those unfortunate cit- 
izens, who fell the iirst sacrifices to tyranny and 
usurpation, is noble, generous, and humane. Such 
are the sentiments that influence you, my country- 
men, or why, through successive periods, with 
heartfelt sensations, have you attended this solemn 
anniversary, and paid this sad tribute to the mem- 
ory of your slaughtered brethren. Nor is the cir- 
cle contracted ; the most amiable part of the crea- 
tion share the grief, and, soft pity beaming in their 
countenances, like the daughters of Israel, annually 
lament the fate of others, and weep over the mise- 
ries of their country.* Come then, mv fri-^Lds, 

* Judges xi. 39, 40. 
I 



98 

let us enter the solitary courts of death, and, per- 
haps, an hour spent in such reflection, may afford 
as solid improvement as nature in her gayest 
scenes. 

To commemorate the deaths of those men who 
fell unhappy victims to brutal violence ; to show 
the dangerous tendency of standing armies in pop- 
ulous Cities in time of peace, the origin of this fatal 
catastrophe ; to trace its connexion and effects, as 
they have been, and are now displayed, in different 
parts of America, I take to be the design of this 
day's solemnity. 

It appears to me needless to enter into the nature 
and ends of civil government, and to evince that 
standing armies are a solecism in such a constitu- 
tion. Such sentiments are founded in nature, and 
have, for ages, under different forms, and different 
meridians, been fully displayed by men who knew 
the rights of nature and mankind. The names of 
Locke, Sydney, and Hampden, have long been il- 
lustrious, and my countrymen are too well ac- 
quainted with their writings, not to venerate their 
memories. Nor can I forget the same sentiments 
which have charmed you from the lips of men, who 
have spoken before me, on the same occasion, 
whose characters will be ever dear, and the exer- 
tions of whose patriotism and virtue, exhibited in 
tlie most critical situations, posterity will ever won- 
der at and revere. 

In short, to confirm this point by logical conclu- 
sions, must be an useless mispense of time. Even 
a crown lawyer, whose sentiments are not always 
friendly to the riglits of mankind, will tell us, " in 
aland of liberty, it is extremely dangerous to make 
a distinct order of the profession of arms. In ab- 
solute monarchies this is indeed necessary for the 
safetv of the priuce, and arises from the main prin- 



99 

ciple of their constitution, Avhich is governing by 
fear : but in free states, the profession of a soldier, 
taken singly and merely as a profession, is justly an 
object of jealousy. The laws, therefore, and con- 
stitution of these kingdoms, know no such thing as 
a perpetual, standing soldier."^ 

Arguments existing in theory, however the mind 
may be captivated, do not always convince : and 
consequences, traced from the same source, are sel- 
dom interesting. But when we find the apprehen- 
sions of the greatest and best of mankind, who, actu- 
ated by a principle of benevolence, felt for the com- 
mon interests, fully displayed in av/ful and tremen- 
<lous effects, we then start from our lethargy, and, 
like the sensitive plant, shrink from approaching 
<ianger ! such is the case with respect to the subject 
before us. Philosophers and statesmen have shewn 
how dangerous standing armies must be in a free 
state, and every page in the volume of mankind 
confirms the melancholy account. 

Speculative writers may indeed tell us, that the 
seeds of dissolution exist in every body politic, that 
like the body natural, it must decay and die ; and 
that the same causes which brought the empires of 
Belus and Cyrus to destruction, will sap every oth- 
er government on earth.f For my ov>^n part, I am 
no fatalist, and 7ul desperandum pro rcpuhlica^ is to 
me a much preferable, and more generous motto. 
And instead of enumerating their many vices and 
corruptions, as the original cause, I think a little ac- 
quaintance with history will inform us, that they are 
not merely the original cause, but consequences re- 
sulting from the fatal measure we are considering. 
In absolute monarchies, where the military is the 

* Blackstone's Commentaries, vol 1 . page 407, 
f See Belisarius by M. Marmontel. 



100 

principal engine of government, we are not to look 
for a confirmation of this argument. But in repub- 
lics, till the introduction of a soldiery, distinct from 
the citizens, wq find them as remote from corrup- 
tion, luxury, and the other black catalogue of vices 
as any human system can attain to : but when stand- 
ing troops were introduced, they immediately fol- 
lowed. Dfjpravity of manners ; a dislike to vir- 
tue and manly sentiment ; effeminacy, and those 
grosser vices, too indelicate to be mentioned in this 
place, stalked like demons through their cities. 
Witness, ye republics, that were once great and il- 
lustrious, but are novvMio more ! witness, O Boston ! 
for ye were too Avell acquainted with the melan- 
eholy truth ! 

We will now confirm the sentiment by a brief in- 
spection into some parts of history. 

The Greeks were a republic, that, in a short flight 
©f years, exhibited the most glorious spectacle 
that ever appeared to mankind ; and, as one ob- 
serves, the age they lived in, seemed to be the gol- 
den period of human nature. =^ In every branch of 
war or peace, in every species of science they ex- 
celled, and were at once feared, admired, and ven- 
erated by the other nations of the world : yet this 
heroic confederacy was originally reduced from this 
glorious superiority, by the arts of one man f under 
the idea of a guard, from an inconsiderable num- 
ber of attendants, he increased to that stretch of 
power as proved the fatal stab to the vitals of his 
country. The bank thus broken down the tide swel- 
led too rapid to be stemmed, and virtue, freedom, 
and the lav/s, all fell a sacrifice. 

Similar was the situation of the Romans. A1-- 
ihough not so universally distinguished as the 

'* Harris' Hermes. f Pigistratu*. 



101 

Greeks, yet from the expulsion of their kings, to 
the time of Marius, they evinced to what a prodi- 
gious greatness mankind may arrive when actuated 
by the principles of liberty, virtue, and honour. 
Influenced by such motives, no wonder their ac- 
tions were conformable ; and while the most rigid 
inflexibility presided at home, the Roman eagle 
flew to the remotest corner of the globe. 

Can we then suppose, when we view the charac- 
ters which appeared on the stage at this period ; 
when we consider how remote they were from those 
vices which have been prevalent in powerful mon- 
archies, and how carefully they watched the sacred 
altar of freedom, that they themselves must remain 
a standing monument of the consequences of this 
fatal measure. Such is the case. Marius, in new 
modelling the legions, and replacing the citizens 
who served in them with foreign mercenaries, laid 
the horrid foundation. The door was now open for 
one too pov/erful citizen after another, until Caesar, 
losing every check, and laughing at the impotent 
anathemas of the senate, with the distant legions 
marched to Rome, and formed a new era in their 
history. From this period we are charmed no more 
with illustrious actions, and the last remains of dig- 
nity sunk in the Roman world. So true is it, that 
when a people lose their liberty, they at once be- 
come fit subjects of every thing base and infa- 
mous. 

We have thus far produced instances of the fatal 
effects of armies thus kept up, which have ended in 
the utter subversion of the laws and government of 
two of the most memorable republics in ancient his- 
tory. We will now shift the scene, and while we 
show their dangerous tendency in states of a more 
modern date, v^e will exhibit an illustrious example 
through what scenes of danger, hardships, and blood, 
I 2 



102 

the determined spirit^of honour, and attachment to 
freedom, will carry a people. 

Previous to mentioning the situation of the Unit- 
ed Provinces, I must remark how very similar their 
circumstances were to ours. We shall ever find it 
an unalterable maxim of princes, who in time of 
peace kept up a standing force, however they may 
call them the protectors of law, the end is to subvert 
those laws, and render the constitution useless. 
Such was the mode of conduct of Philip the second, 
of Spain, to the low countries ; and such the proce- 
dure of a similar character, George the third, of 
Britain, influenced by as despicable a ministry. 
The former, as Sir William Temple observes, 
^' thinking it not agreeing with his greatness (an ar- 
my being now in the bowels of their country) to 
consider their discontents, or be limited by their 
ancient forms of government," proceeds to despise 
the one and overturn the other. New courts judi- 
catory were appointed, new offices established, de- 
pending absolutely on the king.^ 

Whut was the consequence ? Could it be suppos- 
ed a generous people would sit down tamety, and 
kiss the rod that lashed them ? A different mode of 
coaduct ensued. The duke of Alva was sent with 
a powerful armv, the very forcible plea of tyrants, 
and the most shocking cruelties were committed. 
Here let humanity spread her veil, nor let the tender 
breast heave with anguish at such scenes. But 
shocking as they are, they flow as naturally from this 
cursed engine of oppression, as beams of light from 
the sun. For as the same sensible writer observes, 
" so great antipathy ever appears between citizens 
and soldiers ; while one pretends to be safe under 

* Sir William Temple's observation-? oo the United Prevince?, 
page 21 , 23. 



103 

Jaw, which the other pretends shall be subject to his 
sword and his will." 

But terrible as the many executions of their most 
illustrious patriots appeared to them, while the land 
was drenched in its richest blood ; however affect- 
ing the sight of confiscations, imprisonments, and 
the numberless cruelties that attended them, they 
w^ere not daunted. That God who hateth- oppress- 
ion, and delighteth in the happiness of his creation, 
inspired them with sentiments, that carried them 
through innumerable hardships, till after having ex- 
pended immense treasures and blood for better than 
three score vears, they laid the foundation of a rich, 
free, and flourishing people : Providence hereby 
giving an instructive lesson to posterity in every age, 
who are contending for all that is dear and sacred, to 
pursue the glorious object undaunted ; knowing 
that, as liberty is a plant transplanted from the gar- 
dens of heaven, its divine parent will still cherish it, 
and, in spite of opposition, it will flourish, it will live 
for ever. 

Such, my friends, have been the methods used by 
enterprising men, in former ages, to carry into effect 
their ambitious designs, and found their greatness 
on the ruins of their country. But in our day, these 
measures have become systematical. They are in 
fact part of the constitution. To take a view of the 
different pov/ers in Europe, and compare them with 
the state of ancient republics, under great and wise 
legislators, who seemed to be raised up for the ben- 
efit of the age they lived in, and the admiration of 
posterity, we must drop the tear of sensibility at the 
contrast. Where is the kingdom that does not 
groan under the calamities of military tyranny ? let 
us pause a while on the most eminent of them. 
. In the large empire of Russia, the effects are glar- 
ing. Evgn the shadov/ of liberty has vanished. 



104 

Of so great importance is the military, that a re-, 
cruiting officer can go through their villages, arid 
pitch upon the ablest of the inhabitants, as he would 
choose his cattle. And even a father has been im- 
prisoned in his own house, for the escape of a child, 
while by order of the officer, his ov/n sons have been 
his gaolers.^ 

Perhaps there is no nation, in any part of the 
world, more happy than France, in every luxury of 
life. But amid this profusion of plenty, the farmer 
exhibits the most v/retched spectacle in nature. 
Supported by the gleanings of the field, the fruits 
of his labour go to the subsistence of the soldiery. 
Thus dispirited and depressed, he contents himself 
with the refuse of his ground, while, after his great- 
est exertions, another will reap the fruits of his hon- 
est industry. The most obdurate breast must melt 
at such scenes, and execrate the effects of standing 
armies. 

Look into the situation of Poland. Under the 
direction of that great man,f famous for his victo- 
tories against the Turks ; they were brave and vir- 
tuous, and proved the buhvark of Christendom. 
But under the Saxon line, this spirit not suiting their 
plan of government, was awed by electoral troops, 
and totally decayed. The consequences are now 
severely experienced by them ; and while in this 
depressed state they are an object of desire to Turks 
and Russians, their country is a scene of bloodshed 
and misery. 

It is needless to mention England, or the idle farce 
of an annual act of parliament, for the support of 
standing troops, which is nothing but an insult on 
the siinse of that nation. The more virtuous among 
them, if the flame of liberty has not entirely expir- 

* Vide Guthrie's Grammar. •?• John Sobieskt. 



105 

ed, easily see through the guise, and in the death of 
Allen and others, wantonly butchered by a merce- 
nary soldiery, can too clearly read the fate of them- 
selves and posterity. 

The melancholy part of this subject must give 
pain to every humane breast. This is natural. But 
these scenes more directly aifect other nations ; and 
however we may pity the unhappy sufferer, there is 
a kind of pleasure we feel that we ourselves are not 
immediately interested. And would to God it had 
ever remained so. O my country! with what heart- 
felt satisfaction should I rejoice, if oppression had 
never stretched her baleful vv ings to this once happy 
clime ! that that liberty, which an illustrious set of 
men, of whom the world was not worthy, purchased 
at so dear a rate, might have descended unimpaired 
to latest posterity. But is this the case ? has this 
scourge of mankind, standing armies, never inter- 
rupted our prosperity ? If so, why is this desk hung 
with the sable covering of death ! why am I sur- 
rounded by so many of my fellow citizens, who lis- 
ten to the tale of woe ! yes, my countrymen, we 
ourselves are deeply interested ; and this same en- 
gine of oppression, which has thrown mighty repub- 
lics from their foundations, has attempted, and still 
continues to spread the same horrid consequences 
in America : and in its usual mode of conduct, has 
been attended with every species of cruelty, some 
of them unheard of before ; but which your firm- 
ness, under God, has hitherto, and I pray ever may, 
surmount. 

The shocking scene of that dreadful night, the 
fatal effects of which we are now still weeping over, 
is beyond description. No one, perhaps, if it is 
taken in every view, that was not a spectator, can 
conceive it. When I consider the many insults, 
abuses and violences, this unhappy town was exposed 



106 

to for months prev^ious to this melancholy tragedy, 
and when the tumult of contrary passions was thus 
naturally excited, to see a brutal soldiery, scattering 
promiscuous death through a defenceless, unarmed 
multitude, till yonder street was crimsv)ned with the 
blood of its citizens, while a tender mother, frantic 
ynth grief, pours forth the anguish of her heart over 
a beloved son, now incapable of any returns of grat- 
itude ; all this exhibits a scene which the distressed 
heart may painfully feel, but which the tongue can- 
not express. Let the breast, then, still continue to 
beat. These, my friends, are virtuous, generous 
feelings, and do honour to humanity. Ma)^ we ever 
retain them. May this institution, sacred to the 
memory of our murdered brethren, be ever care- 
fully preserved. Yes, ye injured shades ! we will 
still vv'eep over you, and if any thing can be more 
soothing, WE will revenge you. 

This glaring specimen of cruelty roused the citi- 
zens, and in convincing colours displayed the effects 
of standing armies in time of peace. But how- 
ever our exertions were then successful, however 
the storm subsided, it was but temporary. While 
the scales of justice were held in palsied hands, 
and the most shocking barbarities were the highest 
merit, an additional force only was necessary. 
That arriving, the mask was thrown off, and a still 
greater scene of carnage and destruction, opened in 
our adjacent villages. 

But such proceedings, however alarming at that 
period, v/ere soon lost in more dreadful and distress- 
ing operations. The heights of Charlestow^n too 
awfully convinced us of the melancholy trudi, and 
posterity, while with ti/ars of compassion, they pon- 
der the transactions of that day, must execrate the 
causes which produced them. In any situation, the 
relics of slaughtered citizens are objects of pity, 



lor 

and the sympathizing spectator will ever drop a tear 
over them. But there may be instances, when the 
lesser streams of affection are absorbed in a still 
greater sea of woe. Such are the sentiments that 
must strike every breast, when we reflect, illustrious 
Warren ! on thy death, a death which, whole hec- 
atombs of slaughtered enemies, strowed around thy 
corpse, can never repay. Here, ye minions of 
power ! ye who are dead to the calls of honour and 
public virtue, are willing to wade to station, through 
the blood of your brethren, here behold a spectacle 
that must harrow your inmost soul. You, my 
countrymen, with the most pleasing sensations, have 
attentively listened, while, like us, he was weeping 
over the unhappy fate of others. You have kindled 
into rage, while he has set before you the dangerous 
nature and consequences of standing armies, and 
prophetically pointed out to you still greater events. 
Hovv^ affecting ! that he who could lament the fate 
of others, must be himself deplored ; and that he 
who could so feelingly paint the effects of this horrid 
measure, must himself fall cne of the first sacrifices 
to it. 

But it is not sufHcient to drop a transient tear to 
the memory of departed heroes, or to pay an eulogy 
to their characters. The happiness of such men, 
who, after having expired in the arms of liberty 
and virtue, are now sharing the highest degree of 
felicity, cannot be increased by our praises : no, 
my friends, the best way to express our affection 
for such great and good men, is to rouse and 
revenge them. To hurl still fiercer bolts of ven- 
geance on an inhuman soldiery, who, instead of 
affording the last honours, sacred to the dead, and 
which a generous enemy will ever regard ; after 
grinning with hellish pleasure on the mangled 
corpse, which alive could strike terror into tht-ir 



lOS 

boldest heart, lodged it in a promiscuous grave ; 
that since they could not prevent his name and rep- 
utation being immortal, his remains might be hid 
for ever. O Britain ! thou hast, and shall still weep 
tears of blood for this ! 

Are not such instances, my countrymen, very 
convincing proofs of the fatal tffects of standing ar- 
mies, in time of peace. In such a period they orig- 
inated, and from the fifth of March, 1770, through 
every degree of violence and barbarity, to the pres- 
ent day, it is but one connected scene. 

After such exhibitions of cruelty and carnage, 
what can we suppose too brutal, too infamous for 
such an army ? can we wonder to see our houses in 
flames ? our altars rased to the ground, or convert- 
ed to a much more horrid use, than the Jewish tem- 
ple ? if possible they have even exceeded ; and the 
armies of Britain seem to be held up as a standing 
evidence, how far the spirit of tyranny and oppress- 
ion can operate. 

We shudder when the faithful page of history 
opens to our view the conduct of armies, flushed 
"with victory, sacking towns, burning villages, and 
perpetrating murders, with all the other dreadful 
concomitants. But if we look into the conduct of 
the British army in the Jersies, and some part of 
the state of Newyork, we shall find instances of all 
these crimes, and, perhaps, in some places, instances 
beyond them. To see the third city in a neigh- 
bouring state, wantonly consumed by an enemy, 
who not having spirit or ability, to meet us in the 
field, descend to these little mean methods of excit- 
ing terror ; to see the ravages in the Jersies, and 
the garden of America thus vv-^antonly defaced, does 
not the blood beat high ! do we not press forward 
to exterminate such barbarians from tiie face of the 
earth ! But to mention still greatei' scenes of cruel- 



109 

ty, does not the car tingle when it hears the shriek.^ 
of helpless virgins, dreadful victims to hist and bar- 
barity ; while the grey hairs and expressive groans 
of an aged parent, witness to his daughter's shame, 
plead in vain. Can any thing swell this complicated 
scene of v/oe ? it can receive addition. These 
mpnsters exceed even the most barbarous nations. 
With them the ashes of the dead have ever been 
sacred. But under the patronage of a British ty- 
rant and his general, SDUiUng the tainted gale, they 
have ransacked the silent repositories, and the re- 
mains of one that v/as once amiable and captivating, 
flung about as food for the birds of the air.^ O God, 
where is thy vengeance ! O virtue, honour, religion, 
humanity, v/here, where are ye fled ! 

These, my couritrymen, are not the flights of fan- 
cy, not the dictates of imagination : they are solid^ 
though very affecting realities. Can we then wish 
a reunion with such a people ? can we ever familiar- 
ly shake hands with a nation, v^dio, leaping every 
barrier, are thus wantonly sporting with our dis- 
tresses, and bathing themselves in the blood of our 
countrymen ? may America never retain such mean, 
dastardly sentiments ? ibr my own part, if I may be 
indulged, I would intreat, I would conjure every one 
who as a parent feels for the w^elfare of his posterity. 
to imitate the example of the renov^^ned Carthage- 
nianf. Lead your sons, ye fathers, not to the altar 
of Paganism, and under the tutelage of some un- 
knovfn deity, but to the sacred altar of freedom ; 

* Delaiuicy's farm. 

I As Hannibal, then about nine years old, was soothing with 
childish caresses his lather Kamilcar, to take him along v/ith him 
to Spain, wliither, after finishing the w?r in Africa, he was now 
about to transport his troops, and was sacrificing for success in 
tliat expedition, he was led by his father to the altar, and with his 
liand on the victim, was bound by this solemn oath, " that as sooa 
as he should have it in his povv'er he would declare himself an ene- 
my to the Roman people" Livey, b. 21, ch. J. 



110 



and while the gaaidian God of America is witness 
to the solemn obligation, make them swear that they 
never will be friends to a power, who are thus sacri- 
ficing their dearest privileges. Ring in their young- 
ears the dreadful tale of murders, rapes, and mas- 
?;acres. Paint to them the conduct of Britian, as 
displayed in her arms in different parts of America, 
till their young breasts glow with ardour, and thus 
early catching the flame of patriotism, they may, 
through life, pursue undaunted so glorious an ob- 
•fect. Pleased with such an invocation, the shades 
of our fathers will rejoice over their posterity, and 
the angels of love and purity will look down de- 
lighted. 

No one, I think, can suppose these thoughts pro- 
ceed from rage or passion. They are the cool dic- 
tates of my heart. I love my country ; her distres- 
ses feet me ; nor from this moment, do I ever wish 
a reconciliation with a power, whose prosperity 
must be founded en my utter destruction. 

I have now, my countrymen, endeavoured to ex- 
hibit the fatal effects of standing armies in time of 
peace ; not from abstract reasoning, but as they ex- 
ist in fact, and now prevail in our distressed land. 
Here I would remark, that it is standing armies in 
time of peace, and the consequences thence result- 
ing, that we are now deprecating. Armies, in de- 
fence of our country, unjustly invaded, are necessa- 
ry, and in the highest sense justifiable. We, my 
friends, attacked by an arbitrary tyrant, vmder the 
sanction of a force, the effects of which we have at- 
tempted to illustrate, have been obliged to make 
die last solemn appeal. And I cannot but feel a 
pleasing kind of transport, M'hen I see America, un- 
daunted by the m.any trying scenes that have attend- 
ed her, still baffling the efforts of the most formida- 
ble power in Europe, and exhibiting an instance, un- 



Ill 

known in history. To see an army of veterans, 
who had fought and conquered in different quarters 
of the globe ; headed by a general tutored in the 
field of war, illustrious by former victories, and 
flashed with repeated successes, threatening, with all 
the pomp of expression, to spread havock, desola- 
tion, and ruin around him ; to see such a soldiery 
and such a general, yielding to an hardy race of 
men, new to the field of war ; while on the one hand 
it exalts the character of the latter, convincingly 
proves the folly of those, who, under pretence of 
having a body of troops, bred to war, and ever ready 
for action, adopt this dangerous systemi, in subver- 
sion of every principle of lawful government. Here, 
if after having depictured scenes of so distressing a 
nature, it may not appear too descending, I could 
not forbear smiling at the British general and his 
troops, who not vv^illing to reflect on their present 
humiliating condition, affect the air of arrogant su- 
periority. But Americans have learnt them, that 
men, fighting on the principles of freedom and hon- 
our, despise the examples that have been set them 
by an enemy ; and though, in the field, they can 
brave every danger in defence of those principles, 
to a vanquished enemy they know how to be gene- 
rous ; but that this is a generosity not weak and un- 
meaning, but founded on just sentiments, and if 
wantonly presumed upon, v^^ill never interfere with 
that national justice, v/hich ever ought, and lately 
has been properly exerted. 

But while, with the warmest gratitude to heaven 
we view our late successes, and are at a loss to ex- 
press our acknowledgment to the illustrious hero, 
who was the instrument, and whose name, to re- 
motest ages, will be ever dear to these New En- 
gland states, let us not forget our situation. There 
is an army, and a very powerful one, still existing 



in the heart of America. Methinks the reputation 
of past successes should animate every inhabitant of 
America to fly to arms ; and by one general exer- 
tion utterly expel this last, this only remaining pow-' 
er of Great Britain on the continent. Ye, to whom 
the sacred, the important system of government is 
committed ; ye men of sense and virtue ; ye patri- 
ots, who feel an affection for your country and pos- 
terity, let me conjure you to seize the present op- 
portunity, happier than we could ever have expect- 
ed, and which once omitted may never be agam in 
our power. 

I would not pretend to insinuate, that this is the 
only point which ought to be under immediate con- 
Tiideration, by a wise people or their delegates. 
But this I will venture to affirm, that unless this is 
the governing sentiment, in every deliberation, ev- 
ery other thing is superfluous. Let us then rise 
superior to every private local attachment. As we 
are embarked on one broad bottom of universal 
freedom, let us attend to this most pressing occa- 
sion ; an occasion providentially oifered for future 
5>ecurity and happiness. If a royal army, though 
week in its nvimber, can thus insult us unpunished, 
the most slender imagination can easily foresee 
what must be the effects of a still greater force. I 
wish that the present generation, I wish that poster- 
ity may not feelingly reproach our inactivity. 

Shall the frequent calls of our exalted General, 
who seems to have been raised up by heaven, to 
show to what an height humanity may soar ; who 
generously sacrificing affluence and domestic ease, 
wishes to share with you in every danger and dis- 
tress, shall his frequent calls be in vain ? remember 
my countrymen, the eyes of the good and great, in 
every clime, are upon the present contest. Liberty, 
disgusted at scenes of cruelty and oppression, has 



113 

left her ancient altars, and is now hovering to fix 
her last residence in America. Our exertions have 
hitherto been great and successful. Let not the 
ashes of Warren, Montgomer)^ and the illustrious 
roll of heroes, who died for freedom, reproach our 
inactivity and want of spirit, in not completing this 
grand superstructure ; the pillars of which have 
been cemented with the richest blood of America. 
May that same ardour, which has rendered America 
famous, still continue, and looking forward to those 
happy days of liberty and peace, which our posteri- 
ty shall enjoy, let us exult at the thought, that fu- 
ture generations, while they reap the glorious fruits 
of our struggles, will rise up and call us blessed. 



K2 




ReCEii VED. ~^£\ 



j) 



:$-SB43^^ 



ORATION, 

DELIFERED AT BOSTON, MARCH 5, 1779. 



BY WILLIAM TUDOR, ESQ. 



Sed et ilia propago 



Contemptrir superum saevoeque avidissima csedis 

Et violenta fuit. Ov. m. l. 1 . F. 5. 

Whatever secondary props may rise 

From politics, to build the public peace, 

The basis is, the manners of the land. Young. 



fATHERSy COUNTRYMEN, FRIENDS, 

" THAT man was born to delude and be 
deluded j to believe whatever is taught, and bear 
whatsoever is imposed ;" are political dogmas which 
have long afforded matter for exultation and secur- 
ity to dignified villains, from the sceptred tyrant, to 
the meanest minion of power. But however con- 
firmed they may have been, by the passive conduct 
of the greatest part of mankind, you, my fellow cit- 
izens, thank God, you are an exception to their 
truth. The numerous, the respectable assembly 
which now crowd this hallowed temple, are an ex- 
alted exception to maxims as disgraceful as they are 
general. Ever vigilantly attentive to the sacred, 
unalienable rights of man ; equally studious in the 
glorious principles of liberty, as intrepidly deter- 
mined to preserve inviolate the inestimable privi- 
leges she bestows ; you are now convened, not 
merely to commemorate this anniversary, but sol- 
emnly to renew the resolves, which freedom, wis- 



116 

dom, virtue, honour inspire : and not barely to re- 
solve, but, I trust, steadily to pursue the execution 
of resolutions which have resulted from deliberate 
investigation and full conviction. 

To so intelligent, so well informed an auditory, it 
must be unnecessary to deduce the origin of civil 
society, which, founded in reciprocal advantage, and 
springing from social virtue, on the combined ne- 
cessities and assistance of individuals built the gen- 
eral happiness, a happiness thus instituted, noth- 
ing but public spirit, and a union of force and of 
council can preserve : I must therefore request 
your indulgence whilst I rather point out those evils 
which the concurrent experience of ages and na- 
tions prove to be subversive of every good proposed 
from civil compact. Little solicitous of rhetorical 
applause, I shall offer you my sentiments as they 
arise warm from a heart devoted to the interests of 
this my parent country, in language that becomes 
a freeman to use when addressing a free assembly* 

Similar causes will for ever operate like effects in 
the political, moral, and physical world ; those vices 
which ruined the illustrious republics of Greece, 
and the mighty commonwealth of Rome, and which 
are now ruining Great Britain, so late the first king- 
dom of Europe, must eventually overturn every 
state, where their deleterious influence is suffered 
to prevail. Need I add that luxury, corruption, and 
standing armies, are those destructive efficients ? 

Luxury no sooner finds admittance into a state, 
than she becomes the parent of innumerable evils, 
public and domestic ; her contagious influence is 
soon felt in society, and her baneful effects discov- 
ered by a general dissipation of manners and a de- 
clension of private virtue, which begets effeminate 
habits, and by a natural gradation a base pliability 
of spirit* 



iir 

Laxiiry is ever the foe of independence, for at 
the same time that it creates artificial wants, it pre- 
cludes the means of satisfying them. It first makes 
men necessitous, and then dependent. It first un- 
fits men for patriotic energies, and soon teache-s 
them to consider public virtue as a public jest. 

At such a period, corruption finds an easy access 
to men's hearts. To the promotion of interested 
pursuits, and the gratification of voluptuous wishes, 
a ready sacrifice is made of the general good at the 
shrine of power. Then slumbers that virtuous jeal- 
ousy of public men and public measures, which was 
wont to scrutinize not only actions, but motives : 
then nods that active zeal, which, with eagle eye 
watched, and with nervous arm defended the con- 
stitution. Every day new inroads are made upon 
public liberty, while encroachments, like tempta- 
tions, grow more frequent and more dangerous in 
proportion as the power of resistance decreases. 
Thus before a nation is completely deprived of free- 
dom, she must be fitted for slavery by her vices. 

Generally, but not alwa3's, for we have known a 
people ruled by a despot, who, from a private sta- 
tion, rose to uncontrolled dominion, at a time when 
they were sternly virtuous. And this mode of in- 
troducing bondage is ever to be apprehended at the 
close of a successful struggle for liberty, when a tri- 
umphant army, elated with victories, and headed by 
a popular general, may become more formidable 
than the tyrant that has been expelled. Witness 
the last century in the English history ! witness the 
aspiring Cromwell ! 

This audacious citizen, intrusted by his country 
with the command of hir armies, to chastise the 
man whom previous folly* had enthroned, and who 

• If a man in private life, finds his oldest son an ideot or a rascal, 
he may dispose of tus estate aoiong his other children : but if tll€ 



118 

soon presumed to treat his subjects, as all kings are 
wont to do, v/ith contempt and injury, had no sooner 
dispatched the foolish, imperious monarch, than he 
attempted to succeed him ; with a little manage- 
ment, he soon found his army as disposed to regify 
him, as they had been to depose Charles. With 
these mercenary associates at his heels, he appeared 
in the synod of the state, and dared with force dis- 
place the most glorious band of patriots that ever 
led a t^^rant from his tlirone to a scaffold. Not con- 
tent with this enormous outrage upon the constitu- 
tion, this annihilating stroke upon the tottering lib- 
erties of his country, for a time, to keep up the form 
of a popular government, and to bring parliament 
into contempt, he convened an house of commons^ 
constituted entirely of his own creatures. They 
met, and in a few months discovered that they were 
utterly unequal to the posts they were raised to, 
they therefore petitioned their master to dissolve 
them. Cromwell granted ilieir request, and becam^e 
sole tyrant of three kingdoms. Tyrant j for of 
what consequence is it by what style or under what 
modification despotism operates to the public wrong, 
dictator, king, protector, it is not the appellation we 
reprobate, though even that we should guard against, 
but the thing. Who but must ov/n that Cromwell, 
under the name of protector, was as absolute a des- 
pot as he could have been with any other title ? 

The first Csesar affords us another instance among 
the thousands which history holds up to our view, 
to teach us what bold and unprincipled spirits have 

heir apparent (in hereditary monarchies) to a crown, an inherit- 
ance in which millions are interested, turns out to he a blockhead 
or a villain, still he must be the k:m;j, because such is the line of 
succession establiished by law. Hence, the few princes who have 
not been either the scourge or disgrace of the kingdoms they hare 
ruled. 



119- 

effected by the aid of amiies. This ambitious sub- 
ject having been for sev^eral years engaged in the 
humane, the soldierly employment of slaughtering 
his ftllow men, and in extending his conquests over 
countries which he had not even a pretence to in- 
vade ; this Csesar, who boasted that he had slain a 
million of men,''^ was at length ordered home by the 
senate, to answer to some charges against his con- 
duct. He knew that at such an interview his sword 
would be his ablest advocate. He therefore led his 
veteran legions, *' nothing loth," against his coun- 
try ; passed the riibicon ; fought his way to Rome ; 
plunged a dagger in her vitals ; impiously trampled 
on her dearest rights ; and seized on empire crim- 
soned, execrable paricide ! crimsoned with the rich- 
.est blood of Rome's best citizens ! 

Too late the patriot poniard reached the traitor's 
heart. C^sar fell — alas ! the republic had fallen 
before. Rome changed her governors, but the ty- 
ranny remained. The same army that had t nabled 
Julius to triumph over the liberties of his country, 
led the cars of Octavius, Anthony, and Lepidus, 
through seas of Roman blood, and bad the cursed 
triumvirate divide an enslaved world ! 

If Rome could have been saved, Brutus and his 
virtuous associates would have saved her ; but a 
standing army, and a perpetual dictator, were, and 
ever will, prove too hard for the patriotic few. 
Learn hence, my countrymen, that a state may 
sink so low^ in slavery that even virtue itself cannot 
retrieve her. From these examples, prudence dic- 
tates — 'resist beginnings. A free and wise people 
will never suffer any citizen to become too popular, 

*• Plutarch says tiat C-esar could boast, that he had slain a million 
of aieo, gare a miiiion their liberty, and made a million piisoneii:. 

Vide Plut. in vit. Cses. i 



120 

much less too powerful. A man may be formida- 
ble to the constitution even by his virtues. 

But why do I keep your attention fixed on re- 
mote transactions ? our own times furnish addi- 
tional and convincing proofs of the destructive con- 
sequences of political corruption and mercenary 
armies. 

Sweden, the bravest, hardiest, freest nation of 
the north ; Sweden, in one hour, was phmged from 
the distinguised heights of liberty into abject vas- 
sahige. What ties can bind a king ? scarce had 
Gustavus the third, ascended the throne of limited 
monarchy ; scarce had the roofs of the senate house 
ceased to reverberate the insidious accents of his 
inauguration speech,* wliilst yet venerable repre- 

* Thjs speech is inserted at large, not only because it is fraught 
vinth excellent advice, but also to shew how little reliance ought to 
be placed on coronation speeches. 

The king of SiVEHEKS Speech to the States, on the 1st of June, 1772. 

You are this day assembled, in order to confirm in the manner of 
your ancestors, the barjd of union which ties you to me, and me to 
you, and both to the whole commonwealth ; we must therefore re- 
member, with the most sensible gratitude, the benevolence of the 
Almighty, who has ordered things so, that this very ancient king- 
dom of the Sweeds and Goaths is still existing, after so many for- 
eign, as well as national shocks, and that L in the thrcne of my 
ancestors, can yet address free and independent States. 

Assured of your hearts, most sincerely proposing to merit them, 
and to fix my throne upon your love and felicity, the public engage- 
ment which you are going to enter into, would, in my opinion, be 
needless, if ancient custom and the law of Sweden did not require 
it of you. Unhappy the king who wants the tie of oaths to secure 
himself on the throne, and who, not assured of the hearts of his 
subjects, is constrained to reign only by the force of iav/s, when he 
cannot by the love of his subjects ! 

I need not put you in mind of the weightiness of the engage- 
ment you are going to take ; the states of Sweden know best the 
extent of their duty to themselves and the commonwealth ; may 
concord and harmony c?cr unite your hearts ; may foreign viev/s 
and private gain ever be sacrificed to public interest ; may this 
a'.one be a perpetual bond of union amongst you : and may the 
(ambition of any part of yon, never raise any such disturbances as 
may endanger the freed Dm and iinie|>etidenc]|r of thf whole com- 
monwealth^ 



121 

sentatives of their country were fondly anticipating 
the blessings that would arise from the reign of so 
wise, so gracious a king. The unblushing parri- 
cide, surrounded with an armed host, the temple in 
which the senate was assembled, planted his can- 
non against the gates, and with the swords of his 
guards at the throats of the senators, demanded im- 
mediate absolution from his coronation oath, by 
which he had most sacredly bound himself to pre- 
serve inviolate the laws and liberties of the Swedes ! 
Astonishing that a stripling, whose language 
breathed the glowing sentiments of enthusiastic 
generosity, so natural to youth, could, with such 
facility, set at defiance all that is held sacred, hon- 
ourable, and obligatory among men ! but the lust of 

Gentlemen of the house of nobles, 

Preserve always the honour and intrepidity of your ancestors ; be 
an example to your fellow citizens ; and, as you are the first order 
of the kingdom, be also the first in virtue and love of your country. 
Good men of the reverend order of clergy. 

May mutual friendship and peace, obedience to the laws, rever- 
ence to God and the king, bear witness to me and the country, of 
your zeal in the execution of the sacred office with which you are 
intrusted ! 

Good men of the respectable order of burghers. 

Strive always with your fellow subjects who shall contribute the 
most to the public good ; may the fruits of the extensive share 
which belongs to you, be general credit and confidence, useful in- 
stitutions, frugal living, and moderate gain, which lead to sure and 
certain wealth. 

Good men of the ivorthy order of peasants. 

May piecy, diligence, temperance, and old Swedish faith and 
modesty, be the strongest confirmation of the honour always due to 
that order which gives subsistence to all the others ; an honour 
which the Swedish peasants have at ail times attained. 

This is all I ask of you ; when you observe this, you perform in 
the best manner, that duty to me, and your country, which, ac- 
cording to the Swedish laws, I now call upon you to confirm bv 
oath. 

For an historical account of this revolution, vid. Gentleman 't 
Magazine for 1772, page 397, &c. For the Sv/edish coiistittuion, 
vid. the abbot Vertot. 



122 

domination, so natural to human nature, will ever 
prove too hard for the checks of conscience and 
the dictates of right, when a favourable opportunity 
presents to gratify it. Gustavus, knowing that the 
army were ready to assist his iniquitous designs 
(as all standing armies are to promote despotism, 
because under such a system of rule, soldiers must 
be necessary and consequently favoured) the bar- 
riers raised by justice and his plighted faith to 
Sweden, became slight indeed. Force backed in- 
clination, and Gustavus changed circumscribed 
authority, for unconfined sovereignty. =^ 

Let us now turn our eyes to that nation whom 
we once did love, and with whom we had yet been 
friends, had not an unparalleled series of folly and 
cruelty compelled us to renounce the pleasing rela- 
tionship. A short retrospect of v/hose public con- 
duct, subsequent to the last war, will afford many 
and important instructions. 

In 1763 peace was restored after a war of seven 
years, successfully waged in every quarter of the 
globe. At that period what an unrivalled figure 
did Great Britain stand among the nations ! great 
beyond all former example, in arms, in commerce, 
and in wealth. Not a corner of the earth but had 
v/itnessed her atchievements. Wheresoever she 
directed her armies, victory and conquest attend- 
ed ; whilst her irresistible navy, thundering over 
every ocean, not only subdued, but annihilated the 
fleets of her enemies. 

Triumphant in war, nor less distinguished in 
peace. In many of the polite, in most of the use- 
ful arts and sciences, superior to her neighbours. 
In commerce unequalled ; not a sea but bore, not a 

"* For a complete system of despotism, see the lex regia of Den- 
mark, constituted by Frcderjok f3d^ in l66o, and published by 

Christian 5th, i« 1 6SG. 



123 

wind but wafted her countless ships, laden with the 
riches of the earth, and made her crowded ports the 
marts of the w^orld. Late glorious nation, how art 
thou fallen, how lost ! from so envied, so stupendous 
an height, by the perverted will of thy infatuated 
monarch, and the pernicious counsels of his nefari- 
ous ministers. Driven to the fearful edge of ruin, 
we now behold thee tottering o'er the gulf of an- 
nihilation, whilst France and her allies urge thee 
over the irremeable steep ! 

When we consider the capital defects in the En- 
glish constitution ; the character of her present 
v^^eak and ambitious monarch ; the luxury, dissipa- 
tion and venality of her influential men, we shall 
cease to wonder at her declension and present cir- 
cumstances. 

In a limited monarchy, where the prince as su- 
preme executive magistrate, and first branch of the 
legislature, is invested with the important preroga- 
tive of making peace and war ; is constituted the 
sole fountain of honour, and becomes the exclusive 
disposer of every lucrative and honourable appoint- 
ment, civil, ecclesiastic, and military ; his influence 
becomes too enormous to be compatible with the 
public liberty : but if to such extravagant powers 
(by a fatal error in the constitution, placed in the 
hands, of the prince) he should superadd a detesta- 
ble system of corruption to bribe the representatives 
of the people (a system which during the reign of 
his present Britannic majesty, hath been urged to 
its utmost possible extent) the worst species ofvas*- 
sal age mast ensue. That equipoise betvv^een the 
respective branches of the legislature (in which the 
seeming, the theoretic excellence of the English 
constitution consists) will be totally destroyed ; the 
executive will involve the powers of the legislative, 
and whilst the letter and formalities of the consti- 



124 

talion lire retained, its spirit and intendment will 
be totally lost. An absolutely arbitrary, with the 
forms of a free government (that worst and surest 
of all tyrannies) will gradually succeed and be final- 
ly established, unless a total revolution is happily 
effected by the timely exertions of the people, be- 
fore the despot has strengthened himself with a 
mercenary army, and for ever closed their chains. 

But this tyranny is already established in Great 
Britain : for what hopes can Britons entertain of ef- 
fecting a revolution, v/hilst the crown, by the mul- 
tiplicity of gifts in its power, can maintain an infa- 
mous majority in each house of parliament, to le- 
galize, and a standing army to enforce its projects, 
however imperious, inhuman, or unjust. In vain, 
a fevr wise and virtuous men see and lament their 
dishonourable situation ; an army of forty thousand 
soldiers, in time of peace, and a still more numerous 
band of placemen and pensioners, properly disposed 
throughout the kingxlom, effectually stifle in their 
birth every effort of patriotism to restore the consti- 
tution to its primeval principles. 

Such is the boasted constitution, such the prince, 
and such the present condition of the people of Brit- 
ain. Unhappy nation, thus constitutionally enslav- 
ed ; thus legally undone ! unworthy descendants 
of illustrious ancestors ; thus to suffer your most es- 
sential rights to be bartered away, your government 
not only corrupted, but perverted to purposes dia- 
metrically opposite to its original intention. An 
house of commons at first constituted to watch over 
and preserve your rights and immunities from the 
encroaching steps of ambitious princes, you have 
permitted to become an engine in the hands of roy- 
alty, the more effectually to abridge or nullify those 
rights. A parliament constituted the stewards of 
your property, who, instead of guarding it from the 



123 

insatiable grasp of royal avidity, you patiently see 
lavishingly indulging the utmost extravagance of 
regal profusion ; granting enormous sums for ef- 
fecting the most pernicious purposes ; traitorously 
leaguing with the servants of the crown in loading 
you with intolerable taxes, and, sharers in the spoil, 
prodigally complying with the most unbounded de- 
mands of ministerial rapacity, while they, at the 
same time, treacherously unite to screen the most 
infamous defaulters of the public money. Instead 
of bravely drawing your swords in defen-ee of your 
freedom and national honour, you iirst tamely ac- 
quiesced in an insidious and ignominious* law, by 
which you were basely disarmed like slaves, and 
then, from necessity, submitted to keeping on foot, 
in time of peace, a standing army, that, in time of 
war, had been raised proi^ssedly for the defence of 
the national territories from foreign attacks ; an 
army which you now behold, without shame and 
without regret, spreading devastation and horroi^ 
over a late peaceful and happy country j and having 
at length dismembered the empire, are nowattempt'- 
ing to reduce us to the most infamous and misera- 
ble of all conditions, that of being the conquered 
vassals of your weak, vindictive, despotic monarch. 

Degenerate sons of mighty fathers ! how poor is 
the consolation for the loss of essential rights, that 
you still retain the empty privilege of pasquinading 
your king and his ministers, vv'hilst you are desti- 
tute of that public spirit and solid"^ virtue which 
should purge your corrupted government and re- 
form your wretched constitution ! 

From subjection to a government, thus defective 
and corrupt, and thus vilely administered, what 

* Vide statutes at large ; particularly 2 Geo. Sd, ch. 29, and lOtIk 
Geo. 3d, ch, 19. and Black. Com, b. 2. ch. 27, Eor the eame an/ 
fbrest laws. , 

X.2 



126 

freeman would not struggle for an emancipation ? 
but if there is an American present, who can yet 
secretly wish for a reunion with this nation, and a 
share in her ideal privileges, let him for a moment 
consider the innumerable indignities, which, for 
fifteen years back, have been offered us by this^ 
haughty power, added to the savage barbarities 
which they have exercised in every part of America 
where their army have made any progress, and he 
must blush at the spiritless, the ignoble sentiment. 

In 1764 the plan for raising a revenue from this 
country, was resolved on by the British ministry, 
and their obsequious parliament were instructed to 
pass an act for that purpose. Not content with 
having for a century directed the entire commerce 
of America, and centered its profits in their own 
island ; thereby deriving from the colonies every 
substantial advantage which the situation and trans- 
marine distance of the country could afford them : 
not content with appointing the principal officers in 
ihe different governments, while the king had a 
negative upon every law that was enacted : not con- 
tent with our supporting the whole charge of our 
municipal establishments, although their own crea- 
tures held the chief posts therein : not content with 
laying external duties upon our mutilated and 
shackled commerce, they, by this statute, attempt- 
ed to rob us of even the curtailed property, the 
hard earned peculium v/hich still remained to us, 
xo create a revenue for the support of a fleet and 
armv, in reality to overawe- and secure our sub- 
isection, not (as they insidiously pretended) to pro- 
tect our trade, or defend our frontiers ; the first of 
which they annoyed, and the latter deserted. 

After repealing this imperious edict, not be- 
cause it v/as unjust in principle, but inexpedient in 
i^xercise, they proceeded to declare, by a public 



127 

uct of the ■whole legislature, that we had no prop- 
erty but what was at their disposal ; and that Amer- 
icans, in future, were to hold thuir privileges and 
lives solely on the tenure of the good will and 
pleasure of a British parliament. Acts soon fol- 
lowed correspondent to this righteous determin- 
ation, which, not quadrating with American ideas 
of right, justice, and reason, a fleet and army were 
sent to give them that force, which laws receive 
when promulgated from the mouths of cannon, or 
at the points of bayonets. 

We then first saw our harbour crowded with 
hostile ships, our streets with soldiers ; soldiers 
accustomed to consider military prowess as the 
standard of excellence, and vain of the splendid 
pomp attendant on regular armies, they contempt- 
uously looked down on our peaceful orders of citi- 
zens. Conceiving themselves more powerful, they 
assumed a superiority which they did not feel ; and 
whom they could not but envy, they affected to de- 
spise. Perhaps, knowing they were sent, and be- 
lieving they were able to subdue us, they thought 
it vv as not longer necessary to observe any measures 
with slaves ; hence that arrogance in the carriage 
of the officers ; hence that licentiousness and bru- 
tality in the common soldiers, which at length 
broke out with insufferable violence, and proceed- 
ing to personal insults and outrageous assualts on 
the inhabitants, soon roused them to resentment, 
and produced the catastrophe v/hich we now com- 
memorate. The immediate horrors of that dis- 
tressful night'^ have been so often, and so striking- 

-Hecaten vocat altera, sajvam 



Altera Tisiphonen serpentes, atque videres 
Infernas errare Canes ; Limamque rubentem, 
Ne foiet his Testis post m^gna latere sepulchra. 

HoR. I.. 1. s. 8,. 



128 

iy painted, that I shall not again wring your feel- 
ing bosoms with the affecting recital : to the faith- 
ful pen of history I leave them to be represented as 
the horrid prelude to those more extensive trage- 
dies, which, under the direction of a most obdu- 
rate and sanguinary prince, have since been acted 
in every corner of America, where his armies have 
been able to penetrate. 

Our citizens who fell on that memorable night, 
falling, bequeathed us this salutary lesson, written 
indelibly Vv'ith their blood : Confusion, murders, 
and misery, must ever be the consequence of mer> 
cenary standing armies, cantoned in free cities.* 

My countrymen, suffer not the slaughtered breth- 
ren we now lament to have bled in vain ; let us for 
ever retain the important lesson, and they will not 
have ineffectually fallen. Security shall spring 
from their tombs, and their deaths preserve the 
lives of citizens yet unborn. Succeeding genera- 
tions shall celebrate the era of this anniversary as 
the epoch of American triumph, not as a day of 
sadness ; and future patriots nobly envy the death 
of those, who dying, taught their countrymen ex- 
perimental wisdom. 



-Et altls Urblbus ultima; 



Stetere Causae cur perirent 
Funditus imprimeretque Muris 
Hostile Aratruta Exercitiis insolens. 

HoR. I-iB. I. Car. 36. 



ORATION, 

'BELIVEREB AT BOSTON, MARCH 6, ITfc'O. 



BY MR. JONATHAN MASON, JUN. 



Devotion to the public. Glorious flame ! 
Celestial ardor ! in what unknown worlds, 
Hast thou been blessing myriads, since in Rome, 
Old virtuous Rome, so many deathless names 
From thee their lustre drew ? since taught by the© 
Their poverty put splendor to the blush, 
Pain grew luxurious, and even death delight. 

Thomson, vol. 1, p. 336;. 

Unblest by virtue, government and league 
Becomes a circhng junto of the great 

To rob by law. 

What are without it senates, save a face 

Of consultation deep and reason free. 

While the determin'd voice and heart are sold ? 

What boasted freedom, save a sounding name } 

And what election, but a market vile 

Of slaves self barter'd ? . Id. p. 3. 

MY FRIENDS AND FELLOJV CITIZENS, 

THAT the greatness and prosperity of a 
people depend upon the proportion of public spirit 
and the love of virtue, which is found to exist 
among them, seems to be a maxim established by 
the universal consent, and I may say, experience of 
all ages. 

Man is formed with a constitution w^onderfully 
adapted for social converse and connection. Scarce- 
ly ushered into the world, but his wants teach him 
his inability, of himself to provide for them. Wrapt 
in astonishment, w^ith an anxiety inexpressible^ the 



130 

solitary existant looks around for the aid of some 
friendly neighbour : and should he perchance meet 
the desired object ; should he find one, endowed 
with intellectual faculties, beset Y/ith the same wants 
and weaknesses, and in all respects the very image 
of himself ; should he find him with a heart open 
to mutual kind offices, and a hand stretched out to 
bestow a proportion of his labour, with a bosom 
glowing with gratitude, his soul is on the wing to 
express the sense he entertains of the generous ob- 
ligation. 

A confidence is established betv/een him and his 
benefactor, they swear perpetual friendship, and a 
compact for mutual protection and assistance be- 
comes imperceptibly consented to. Thus doubly 
armed, together they pursue their morning rout to 
satisfy those demands only which nature reminds 
them of ; and while the ingenuity of the one is ex- 
ercised to ensnare, the strength of the other is, per- 
haps, employed to subdue their vigorous opponent. 

Their little family soon increases ; and as their 
social ring becomes gradually enlarged, their obli- 
gations to each other are equally circular. Honest 
industry early teaches them that a part only is suf- 
ficient to provide for the whole, and that a portion 
of their time may be spared to cull the conveniences 
as well as appease the wants of nature. Property 
and personal security appear to be among the first 
objects of their attention, and acknowledged merit 
receives the unanimous suflfrage to preside guardian 
over the rights and privileges of their infant society. 
The advantages derived are in a moment experi- 
enced. Their little policy, erected upon the broad 
basis of equality, they know of no superiority but 
that which virtue and the love of the whole de- 
mands ; and while, with cheerfulness, they entrust 
to his care a certain part of their natural rights, to 



131 

secure the remainder, the agreement is mutual, and 
the obligation upon his part equally solemn and 
binding to resign them back, either at the instance 
and request of their sovereign pleasure, or whenso- 
ever the end should be perverted for which he re- 
ceived them. 

Integrity of heart, benevolence of disposition, the 
love of freedom and public spirit, are conspicuous 
excellences in this select neighbourhood. Lawless 
ambition is without a friend, and the insinuating 
professional pleas of tyrants, ever accompanied by 
the magnificence and splendor of luxury,"*^ are un- 
heard of among them ; but simple in their man- 
ners, and honest in their intentions, their regula- 
tions are but few and those expressive, and without 
the aid of extreme refinement,! by a universal ad- 
herence to the spirit of their constitution, and to 
those glorious principles from which that spirit 
originated, we find them attaining real glory ; we 
find them crowned with every blessing that human 
nature hath ever known of ; we find them in the 
possession of that summit of solid happiness that 
universal depravity will admit of. 

Patriotism is essential to the preservation and 
well being of every free government. To love one's 

^' A mode of living above a man's annual income, weakens the 
state, by reducing to poverty not only the squanderers themselves, 
but many innocent and industrious persons connected with them. 
Luxury is above all pernicious in a commercial state. Shall pro- 
fits satisfy the frugal and industrious, but the luxurious despise al- 
most every branch of trade but what returns great profits. 

Homes' Hist, of Man, vol. 2, p. 113. 

In the savage state, man is almost all body, with a very small pro- 
portion of mind. In the maturity of civil society, he is complete 
both in mind and body. In a state of degeneracy by luxt'.ry and 
voluptuousness, he has neither mind nor body. Id. 114. 

f There are very few laws which are not good while the state 
'-rtains its pvinctDle?. Mon rr^o. 6 s. G. 12. 



132 

country"^ has ever been esteemed honourable ; and 
under the influence of this noble passion, every so- 
cial virtue is cultivated, freedom prevails through 
the whole, and the public good is the object of every 
one's concern. A constitution built upon such 
principles, and put in execution by men possessed 
with the love of virtue and their fellow men, must 
always ensure happiness to its members. The in- 
dustry of the citizen will receive encouragement 
and magnanimity ; heroism and benevolence will 
be esteemed the admired qualifications of the age. 
Every the least invasion on the public liberty, is 
considered as an infringement on that of the sub- 
ject ; and feeling himself roused at the appearance 
of oppression, with a divine enthusiam he flies to 
obey the summons of his country ; and does she 
but request, with zeal he resigns the life of the in- 
dividual for the preservation of the whole. 

Without some portion of this generous principle, 
anarchy and confusion would immediately ensue, 
the jarring interests of individuals, regarding them- 
selves only, and indifferent to the welfare of others, 
would still further heighten the distressing scene, 
and with the assistance of the selfish passions, it 
would end in the ruin and subversion of the state. 
But where patriotism is the leading principle, una- 
nimity is conspicuous in public and private councils. 
The constitution receives for its stability the united 
eflbrts of every individual ; and revered for its jus- 
tice, admired for its principle, and formidable for its 
strength, its fame reaches to the skies. 

■' The amor patria; or patriotism stands at the head of social af- 
fections, and so high in our este. m, that no actions but what pro- 
ceed from it, are termined grand or heroic. It triumphs over every 
selfish motive, is a firm support to every virtue, and wherever it 
prevails the m.orals of th<^ people are found to be pure and correct. 

Elements of Criticism. 



3 33 

Should we look into the history of the ancieal 
republics, we shall find them a striking example ot 
what I have asserted, and in no part of their prog- 
ress to greatness, producing so many illustrious 
actions, and advancing so rapidly in the road to 
glory, as when actuated by public spirit and the love 
of their country. The Greeks in particular ever 
held such sentiments as these in the highest ven- 
eration, and with such sentiments as these alone 
they established their freedom, and finally conquer- 
ed the innumerable armies of the east. 

When Xerxes, =^ the ambitious prince of Persia, 
vainly thinking that nature and the elements were 
subject to his control, inflamed with the thoughts of 
conquest, threatening the seas, should they resist, 
with his displeasure, and the mountains, should 
they oppose his progress : when, after having 
collected the armies of the then known world under 
his banners, he entered the bowels of Greece, lead- 
ing forth his millions, resolutely bent upon the de- 
struction and extirpation of this small but free 
people ; what do we perceive to be their conduct 
upon so alarming an occasion ? do they tamely sub- 
mit without a struggle ? do they abandon their prop- 
erty, their liberties, and their country, to the fury 
of these merciless invaders ? do they m.eanly suppli- 
cate the favour, or entreat the humanity of this 
haughty prince ? no! sensible of the justice of their 
cause, and that valour is oftentimes superior to 
numbers ; undaunted by the appearance of this 
innumerable host, and fired with the glorious zeal, 
they, with one voice, resolve to establish their lib- 
erties, or perish in the attempt. 

Viev/ them at the moment when the armies of 
their enemies, like an inundation, overspread th^. 

■ Herod. C. J. C. 56, 99, and Rollin, An. Uk: 
M 



134 

'whole Grecian territory ; when oppression seemed 
•AS though collecting its mighty force, and liberty 
lay fettered at the shrine of ambition ; then shone 
forth the heavenly principle, then flamed the spirit 
of the patriot, and laying aside all sentiments of 
jealousy, as though favored with the prophetic wis- 
dom of heaven, with bravery unexampled, they 
charge their foe, and fighting in defence of their 
country, success crowns the virtuous attempt. 
With three hundred Lacedimonians,* one only of 
whom was left to tell the fate of these intrepid men 
to their weeping country, they conquered the com- 
bined force of the v/liole eastern world. 

The privileges and immunities of the states of 
Holland,! after a contest of forty years, in which 
they withstood the exertions of their powerful 
neighbours, being established by the force of this 
single principle, which appears to prevail both in 
the senate and the field, might also be adduced in 
support of what I have advanced ; but, my fellov/ 
countrymen, we cannot want additional proofs j 
the living history of our own times, will carry con- 
viction to the latest posterity, that no state, that no 
community, I may say that no family, nay, even 
that no individual can possibly flourish and be hap- 
py, without some portion of this sacred fire. It 
Vxas this that raised America from being the haunt 



■ These brave Laceclimonians thought it become them who 
were the choicest soldiers of the chief people of Greece, to devote 
themselves to certain death, in order to make the Persians sensible 
how difficult it is to reduce freemen to slavery, and to teach the 
rest of Greece, by their example, either to vanquish or to perish. 
A monument was afterwards erected to the memory of Leonidas 
and those who fell with him at Thermopylae ; upon which \va> 
this inscription : 

Die. iiospes, Sparta; nes te hie vidlsse jacentcs : 
Dum, Sanctis pairix icgibus obseqaimur. RoI.J:,*^^ 

•]• Temple's observation. 



135 

of the savage, and the dwelling place of the beat^t^ 
to her present state of civilization and opulence : 
it was this that hath supported her under the sev 
verest trials : it was this that taught her sens to 
ftght, to conquer, and to die in support of freedom 
and its blessings ; and what is it, but this ardent 
love of liberty, that has induced you, my fellow 
citizens, to attend on this solemn occasion, again to 
encourage the streams of sensibility, and to listen 
witii so much attention and candor to one of the 
youngest of your fcllov/ citizens, whose youth and 
inability plead powerfully against him, while the 
annual tribute is paid to the memory of those de- 
parted citizens, who fell the first sacrifices to arbi- 
trary power. Check not such generous feelings. 
They are the fruits of virtue and humanity j and 
while the obligations you remain under to those un- 
happy men, lead you to shed the sympathetic tear, 
to dwell w^ith pleasure upon their memories, and 
execrate the causes of their death, remember that 
you can never repay them. Ever bear it in your 
minds, that so implicit was the confidence you will- 
ingly placed in that country, that owed to ycu hey 
affection, that notwithstanding the introduction of 
that inhuman weapon of tyrants into the vtry heart 
of your peaceful villages, you still would fain rely 
on their deceitful assertions, and paint the deform- 
ed monster to your imaginations as the minister of 
peace and protection. ISl^n born in the bosom of 
liberty, living in the exercise of the social affections 
in their full vigour, having once fixed them upon 
particular objects, they are not hastily eradicated. 
Unaccustomed to sport v/ith, and wantonly sacri- 
fice these sensible overflowings of the heart, to run 
the career of passion and blinded lust, to be familiar 
with vice, and sneer at virtue ; to surprise inno- 
cence by deceitful cunning, and assume the shade of 



136 

friendship to conceal the greater enniity, you couki 
not at once realize the fixed, the deliberate inten- 
tion of those from whom you expected freedom, to 
load you with slavery and chains, and not till insult 
repeated upon insult : not till oppression stalked at 
aoon day through every avenue in your cities : nay, 
lot till the blood of your peaceful brethren flowed 
mrough your streets, was the invenomed serpent to 
be discovered in the bushes : not till a general tres- 
pass had been made upon the keenest feelings of hu- 
man nature, and the widowed mother v/as summorL- 
cd to entomb the cold remains of her affectionate 
5on ; the virtuous bosom to resign its tender part- 
ner, and social circles their nearest friends ; could 
you possibly convince yourselves that you and Brit- 
ain were to be friends no more. Thrice happy 
day ! the consequences of which have taught the 
sons of America that a proper exercise of public 
spirit and the love of virtue hath been able to sur- 
prize and baffle the most formidable and most pow- 
erful tyranny on earth. 

Patriotism is a virtue which will ever be univer- 
sally admired, even by those incapable of possess- 
ing it. Its happy effects are equally visible in indi- 
viduals as in states, and if we bestow a moment's 
reflection upon the heroes of antiquity, who have 
been deservedly celebrated by succeeding genera- 
tions, both for their abilities and conduct, we shall 
find that the true source of their greatness was this 
spirit of freedom, and their inviolable attachment 
to the interest of their country. 

With an attentive silence we listen to the histori- 
an v/hile he relates to us the integrity of conduct, 
the invincible courage, the earnest glow of soul, and 
the ardent love of liberty which was exhibited in 
the lives of those illustrious men ; and so great were 
their virtues that we are scarce able to credit them,, 



137 

but as the dreams of fancy, or the fictions of the in- 
genious. 

It is recorded of the celebrated Timoleon,"^ gen- 
eral of Corinth, that notwithstanding he was blest 
with a temper singularly humane, and with feelings 
that were ever roused at the miseries of his fellow 
men, he loved his country so passionately, that after 
making use of every argument in his power to con- 
vince an elder brother of his error, for attempting 
to become the tyrant of it, he devoted him to death ; 
a brother on whom he had previously placed his 
affection, and whose life being exposed to the fire 
of an enemy in a severe battle, he had before saved 
at the great risque of his own. Even in old age, 
after a period of rigid retirement for twenty years, 
we are attracted by the disinterested conduct of this 
exalted patriot. 

When the Syracusians, groaning \iijder every 
species of cruelty, which lust, avarice, and ambi- 
tion could inflict, supplicated their generous neigh- 
bours for assistance, to alleviate those miseries thej 
themselves had been exposed to, Timoleon, 
urged to accept the command of the Corinthian 
auxiliaries, at first hesitated, his age, his manners* 
his private happiness, and the endearments of his 
family forbid it ; but sensible that he was but a mem- 
ber of the community, and stung by the cries of in- 
nocence, his inclinations were but of trivial mo- 
ment in competition with his duty* 

Viev/ him at the head of his chosen army, as- 
sembled to plead the cause of suffering virtue. Ju 
possession of arms and of power, if inclined to per- 
vert them, are his principles changed with his sta- 
tion ? are his thoughts bent on conquest or on 
death ? or does he entertain a secret wish to 3eiz.c 

HoUin, 

"^2 



138 

the moment of confidence, and build his greatness 
upon the ruin of the distressed, to remove one ty- 
rant to reinstate another ? no, but fired with a gen- 
erous glow of soul, fired with the manly sentiments 
of freedom, with an implacable hatred to oppression 
of all kinds, he marches his troops to the deliver- 
ance of his afflicted people, and with a firmness 
becoming soldiers, fighting under the standard of 
liberty, after a series of fatigue and toil, harassing 
marches and fierce conflicts, he dethrones the ty- 
rant, and is proclaimed the deliverer of Syracuse. 
Having restored tranquillity to this unhappy coun- 
try, repeopled their cities, revived their laws, and 
dispensed justice to all ranks and classes, he re- 
signed his command, and retreated once again to 
the private walks of life, accompanied with the 
grateful acknowledgments of millions as the patron 
of their liberty and the saviour of their country. 
Happy man ! endowed with such a noble soul, 
prone to feel for the misfortunes, and rejoice in 
the happiness of his fellov/ creatures. 

But why need we resort to distant ages to fur- 
nish us with instances of the effects of patriotism 
upon individuals ? will not the present day afford 
■at least one illustrious example to our purpose ? 
■yes, my fellow countrymen, America, young- 
America, too, can boast her patriots, and heroes, 
men who have saved their country by their virtues, 
whose characters posterity will admire, and with a 
pleased attention, listen on tiptoe to the story of 
their glorious exertions. Let us pause a moment 
only upon the select catalogue, and take the first 
upon the list. 

View him in his private station, and here, as 
though Providence, for his excellences, had select- 
ed him for her own ; from the extensive circle of 
humanity, we perceive him enjoying her richest 



139 

dispensations. By an affluent fortune, placed, 
beyond the reach of poverty or dependance, bless- 
ed with the social circle of friends, and happily 
connected by yet more endearing ties ; peaceful 
reflections are his companions through the day, and 
the soothing slumbers of innocence hover over his 
couch : charity presides steward of his household, 
and the distressed are ever sure to receive from his 
bosom that sigh which never fails to console, and 
from his cheek the alleviating tear of sympathy. 
Having reached the summit of human felicity, 
beyond even the picture of his most sanguine ex- 
pectations, it is indifferent to him, as an individual, 
whether prince or people rule the state, but nur- 
tured in the bosom of freedom, endowed with a 
greatness of soul, swallowed up with public spirit 
and the love of mankind, does oppression scatter 
her baleful prejudices, does ambition rear its guilty 
crest, friends,^ relations, and fortune are like 
dust in the balance. The pleas of nature give way 
to those of his country, and urged on by heavenly 
motives, he flies instantly to her relief. See him, 
while grief distracts his bosom at the effusion of 
human blood, grasp the sword of justice, and 
buckle on the harness of the warrior. See him, 
with fortitude unparalleled, with perseverance in- 
defatigable, deaf to pleasure, and despising cor- 
ruption, cheerfully encountering the severest tasks 
of duty, and the hardiest toils of a military life. 
Modest in prosperity, and shining like a meteor in 
..dversity, we behold this patriotic hero, with a 
small army of determined freemen, attacking, 
lighting, and conquering an army composed of the 
bravest veteran troops of Britain. 

* Can sunt parentes, cari liberi, propinqui, famlllares, sed omnes 
cmniiun caritates patris uxa complexa est, pro »jua quis bonus 
4ubitel morteBi oppetere? C<35s. 



140 

And shall we, my countrymen, stop the current 
of gratitude ? and can we forbear testifying our joy 
Vpon the success of such singular exertions ? shall 
we seal his death before we thank him for his ser- 
vices ? by no means. Our acknowledgment will 
irresistibly flow from us to this deserved object of 
admiration, and his very actions will sting the soul 
pf the ungrateful v/retch, until he is forced to ad- 
mire their lustre, and confess his inability to equal 
them. 

Some there are, who, Roman like, would banish 
him for his good conduct ; but while we copy the 
spirit of this great people, let us not be as diligent 
to catch their vices. Such conduct is inconsistent 
with the sentiments of freemen, and surely we can- 
not forget that he has saved our country. 

Rewards'^ and punishments are in the hands of 
the public, and it is equally consistent with generos- 
ity and humanity, to bestow the one, as inflict the 
other. We cannot be too cautious in the objects of 
our gratitude ; let merit, conspicuous merit, be the 
standard to which our praises shall resort, and it 
will excite a noble emulation in others, and let us 
rather forbear that respect, which is too often found 
attendant upon the rich, though their wealth has 
been amassed with the ruin of their country. 

But the praises of us are not the patriot's only 
reward ; with an approving conscience, sweetening 
the declivity of life, his invitation is to the skies^ 
there to receive a far more precious reward, for the 

* Oae method of preventing crimes js to reward virtue. If the 
rewards for the discovering of useful truths have increased our 
knowledge, and multiplied good books, is it not probable that re- 
wards, distributed by the beneficent hand of a sovereign, would 
also multiply virtuous actions. The coin of henour is inexhausti- 
''We, and is abundantly fruitful io the hauds of a prince who distri-" 
butes it wisely. Mabq- of Bsooa. 



141 

establishment of that principle to which, since the 
origin of mankind, heaven hath paid an immediate 
attention. 

" Where the brave youth with love of glory fired, 

" Who greatly in his country's cause expired, 

" Shall know he conquered. The firm patriot there, 

" Who made the welfare of mankind his care, 

" Though still by faction, vice, and fortune crost 

" Shall find his generous labour was not lost.*" 

Such is the progress of public spirit and the love 
€>f virtue, and it is the only pillar, upon which can 
safely be erected the happiness of mankind. With- 
out some play of the social affections in every 
society, without some barrier to oppose the stormy 
passions of individuals, without some general at- 
tachment to the public welfare, a door is open to 
ambition and political corruption,! luxury and self- 
ishness become fashionable vices, and the spirit of 
the government is perverted ; the public good is 
neglected, the riches of the state insecure, the lib- 
erty of the subject slighted, and the attempts of the 
tyrant made successful by the follies of the people. 

What but the want of patriotism that hath bu- 
ried in ruins the mighty empires of Greece and 
Rome ; that standing armies, the scourge of the 
innocent, prevail throughout all Europe ; that the 
pages of history present to our view so melancho- 
ly a picture of the human species, and that Amer- 
ica and Britain are not at this day, running the 

■• Cato. 

I The Assyrian, the Persian and Crassian, the three first univer- 
sal monarchies, finally sunk under luxury and corruption ; and it 
is well known that the Romans did not preserve their liberties for 
half a century after being debauched by the luxury of Asia, but 
fell a prey to its vipes, and was at length divided by the Goths and 
Vandal?. 



142 

road to greatness and glory in concert ; and what 
is it but the want of patriotism, that could induce 
this haughty nation, divested of every public vir- 
tue, of every bosom feeling, of every pretension to 
humanity, without apology or pretext to usher a 
standing army, composed of vagrants, criminals, 
and mercenaries, into our peaceful cou^ntry. 

O my countrymen, it is the want of patriotism, 
that we are at this time called to weep over the 
wanton massacre of innocent men ; that this is not 
the only house of mourning ; that the fields of 
America have become devoted to war, and scenes 
of slaughter familiar to her sons ; that our oppres- 
sors yet persist in their destructive system of ty- 
ranny, and ii their power was equal to their thirst of 
blood, with the spirit of ambition, by which they 
are now directed, would lead them to destroy and 
extirpate the whole hum.an race. But thanks be 
to heaven, that by the force of those virtues which 
they have discarded, v/e have nobly resisted the at- 
tempts of these cruel men, and the miseries they 
have so profusely dealt out to us, are returning, 
with additional vengeance, upon their own heads. 
The danger of the issue is now past, and if we but 
retain the same patriotic ardor, with which we first 
defended our rights from the grasp of our enemies, 
they are every day in our power. We have every 
thing to hope ; they on the other hand have every 
thing to fear. Youth, vigour, and the invincible 
arm of justice are on our side : — The genius of lib- 
erty also is our advocate, v/ho, though persecuted, 
hath never been conquered. 

in our day we are called to see a happy country 
laid waste at the shrine of ambition ; to experience 
those scenes of distress v/hlch hiscory is filled with, 
but experience rivets its leosous upon the mind, and 
U"" we resolve with deliberation, and execuj^ W.^th 



143 

vigour, We may yet be a free and floitrishing people. 
Repine not too much at the ravages of war, nor 
murmur at the dispensations of Providence. We 
oftentimes rate our blessings in proportion to the 
difficulty of attaining them, and if, without a strug- 
gle, we had secured our liberties, perhaps we should 
have been less sensible of their value. Chastise- 
ments in youth are not without their advantages ; 
blessings most commonly spring from them in old 
age. They lead us to reflect seriously in the hour 
of retirement, and to cherish those qualifications, 
which are frequently lost in the glare of prosperity. 
The important prophecy is nearly accomplished. 
The rising glory of this vrestern hemisphere is 
already announcecl,and she is sumraoncedto her seat 
among the nations. We have publicly declared 
ourselves convinced of the destructive tendencv of 
-,tanding armies : we have acknowledged the neces- 
sity of public spirit and the love of virtue, to the 
happiness of any people, and we profess to be sen- 
sible of the great blessings that flow irom them. 
Let us not then act unworthy of the reputable char- 
acter v/e now sustain : like the nation we have 
abandoned, be content with freedom in form and 
t}Tanny in substance, profess virtue and practise 
vice, and convince an attentive world that in this 
glorious struggle for our lives and properties, the 
only men capable of prizing such exalted privi- 
leges, were an illustrious set of heroes, who have 
^-^^ealed their principles with their blood. Dwell, 
my fellow citizens, upon the present situation of 
your country. Remember, that though our ene- 
mies have dispensed with the hopes of conquer- 
ing, our land is not entirely freed of them, and 
should our resistance prove unsuccessful by our 
ovra inattention and inactivity, death will be far 
preferable to the yoke of bondage. 



144 

Let us therefore be still vigilant over our eiie^ 
mies. Instil into our armies the righteous cause 
they protect and support, and let not the soldier 
and citizen be distinct characters among us. By 
our conduct let us convince them,* that it is for 
the preservation of themselves and their country, 
they are now fighting ; that they, equally with us, 
are interested in the event, and abandon them not 
to the insatiable rapacity of the greedy extortioner. 

As a reward for our exertions in the great cause 
of freedom, we are now in the possession of those 
rights and privileges attendant upon the original 
state of nature, with the opportunity of establish- 
ing a government! for ourselves, independent upon 
any nation or people upon earth. We have the 
experience of ages to copy from, advantages that 
have been denied to any who have gone before us. 
Let us then, my fellow citizens, learn to value the 
blessing. Let integrity of heart, the spirit of free- 
dom and rigid virtue be seen to actuate every 
member of the commonwealth. Let not party rage, 
private animosities, or self interested motives, suc- 
ceed that religious attachment to the public weal 
which has brought us successfully thus far ; for 
vain are all the boasted charms of liberty if her 
greatest votaries are guided by such base passions. 
The trial of our patriotism is yet before us, and we 
have reason to thank heaven, that its principles are 
so well known and diffused. Exercise towards 



* It has ever been thought inconsistent with good policy and 
even common sense, to commit the defence of a country to men 
who have no interest in its preservation. 

DioD. Lib. 1. p. 67. 

f The true definition of a free state, is, where the legislative ad- 
Iveres strictly to the laws of natue, and calculates every one of its 
regulations for improving society, and for promoting industry and 
honestj- among t'le people. Home's Hisr. Vol. 2, p. l^jV.t 



145 

each other the benevolent feelings of friendship, 
and let that unity of sentiment, which has shone in 
the field, be equally animating in our councils. 

Remember that prosperity is dangerous ; that 
though successful, we are not infallible ; that like 
the rest of mankind, we are capable of erring. The 
line of our happiness may be traced with exact- 
ness, and still there may be a difficulty in pursuing 
it. Let us not forget that our enemies have other 
arts in store for our destruction ; that they are 
tempting us into those snares, which, after success- 
ful struggles, proved the ruin of the empires of the 
East, and let this sacred maxim receive the deep- 
est impression upon our minds, that if avarice, if 
extortion, if luxury and political corruption, are suf- 
fered to become popular among us, civil discord 
and the ruin of our country will be the speedy con- 
sequence of such fatal vices ; but vv^hile patriotism 
is the leading principle, and our laws are contrived 
with wisdom, and executed v/ith vigour, while in- 
dustry, fi'ugality, and temperance, are held in esti- 
mation, and we depend upon public spirit and the 
love of virtue for our social happiness, peace and 
aiiiuence will throw their smiles upon the brow of 
the individual, our commonwealth will flourish, 
our land become the land of liberty, and America 
an asylum for the oppressed. 



■N 



ORATION, 

DELIVERED AT BOSTON, MARCH 5, 178L 



BY THOMAS DAWES, JUN. 



^ Patria cara— carior LIbertas !■* 



FdTHERSy FRIENDS AND CITIZENS^ 



AVOIDING apology, even at a time when 
uncommon propriety might justify it ; and trust- 
ing rather to a continuance t)f the same liberality 
which has ever noted my countrymen, I attempt 
the duties of this solemn anniversary. 

And it is conceived that we shall, in some meas- 
ure, perform those duties, if we sketch out some 
general traits of liberty, and mark the lines of her 
progress in particular nations ; if we paint the 
wounds she has suffered from corruption and des- 
potic force, and from the whole educe such senti- 
ments as become a brave and free, though injured 
people. 

Numerous as the descriptions are of primeval 
man, the reflective eye is not yet Weary. We still 
feel an interest in that archadian state which so well 
imitated the world we are looking for. And we 
shall continue to feel it so long as nature is pleas- 
ing and the heart retains a feature of innocence. 
Like the gods,* our first fathers had but few de- 

* It was represented of Marcus Aurellus, that in imitating the 
gods his study was to have as few wants as possible. 

Vid. Spectator, No. 634. 



14a 

sires, and those to be satisfied by the works of vir- 
tue. Their passions were as the gales of their own 
Eden ; enough to give a spring to good actions ; to 
keep the waters of life in motion without inducing 
storm and whirlwind.'^ Conversing with divini- 
ties, Liberty, sent from above, was their peculiar 
inmate : that Liberty, whose spirit, mingling with 
the nature of man at his formation, taught him, un- 
like the other animals, to look upward and hope for 
a throne above the stars :| that Liberty who taught 
him to pluck with confidence, the fruits of nature ; 
to pvirsue the direction of reason upon his heart, 
and, under that direction, to acquire, secure, and 
enjoy all possible happiness, not impeding, but as- 
sisting others in the same privilege.]; When fam- 
ilies, and consequently human wants were after- 
ward multiplied, it was this same Liberty who, 
joined with Justice, led the patriarchs to some aged 
oak. There, in the copious shade, misunderstand- 
ings were explained, and charity and peace embrac- 
ed each other. Such was the morning of man ! 

But misunderstandings are quarrels in embrio. 
Satisfaction of one want originated another. De- 
pravity grew enraptured with strife. The wind 
was up. Passion raged. Brother's blood then 
smoked from the ground and cried for vengeance, 
Nimrod commenced his prelude to tyranny, and 
Fame was clamorous with the deeds of death. Lib- 
erty beared and trembled ; considered herself an 

* The passions of every kind, under proper restraints, are the 
gentle breezes which keep Hfe from stagnation ; but, let loose, they 
are the storms and whirlwinds which tear up all before them. 

Mrs. Brooke. 

f Pronaque cum spectent animalia csetera terram, 
Oshomini sublime dedit, coelumque tueri 
Jussit. Ovid. met. 

t No maoV social liberty is lessened by another's enjoying the 
same. Bollan. 



149 
V4 

euteast, and has, on many times since, travelled up 
and down the world, forlorn, forsaken, majesty in 
rags. Nor will she, perhaps, until the millenium 
comes, if America does not now retain her, ever 
command that complete and permanent homage 
which is suitable to her nature. The old republics 
may have been the most perfect seats of her resi- 
dence while they lasted, and are often mustered upr 
from the tomb of empire to witness the adoration 
which they paid her. But even there she receiv- 
ed so frequent violence that the continuance of her 
reign was for the most part precarious : and when 
even at the summit of her glory, she was only ele- 
vated that her fall might be more astonishing. 
Having passed all the degrees of fortune, thank 
God she has found her way to these remote shores : 
and, if from effects we may judge, she is w*ell pleas^ 
ed with her new abode. O cherish the divine in- 
habitant ! O let her not return to the courts above 
with a story that shall fire the heavens against us ; 
that she had blessings for us, but that we wer6 not 
prepared to receive them ; that she could find 
among us no lasting habitation ; but that, like the 
dove after the deluge, she was scarce favoured with 
the top of some friendly mountain for a melancholy 
moment. 

Liberty, my friends, is a palladium to the place 
'f5f her dwelling, a rock and a sure defence. Wherev- 
er she is, every man has something to protect. He 
knows what are his riches, and that while he liveth 
himself shall gather them. He views, with con- 
scious joy, his circumstances. His social affections 
shoot out and flourish. Even his prejudices are a 
source of satisfaction, and among them local attach- 
ment, a fault which leads to the side of patriotism*. 

Supported by and tenacious of these fruits of 
liberty, some little free states, which the geogra* 
N2 



ISO 

pher in his map had otherwise never noticed, have 
long stood uninjured by change, and some of them 
inaccessible by the greatest efforts of power. There 
is now, in a distant quarter of the globe, a living 
illustration of this remark. Situate upon a vene- 
rable pile of rocks, in Italy, stands the common- 
wealth of St. Marino. It was founded by a holy 
man whose name it bears, and who fled to this ro- 
mantic fairy land to enjoy religion and free air, un- 
pursued by power, and the restless spirit of the 
world. His example was followed by the pious, 
the humane, and the lovers of freedom. And 
these, a favourite few, who were before scattered 
up and dov/n through other parts of Italy ; who 
had lived all their days under arbitrary rule, and 
whom nature had secretly taught that there was 
somewhere a happier institution for man ; these 
hurried away to the snowy top of St. Marino : and 
having there first tasted those rights which come 
down from God, made it their life's labour to sup- 
port and hand them down in purity. There every 
man finds his prosperity in submitting to those laws 
which diffuse equality. There every man feels 
himself happily liable to be called to the senate or 
the field i every man divides his day between al- 
ternate labour, and the use of arms ; on tiptoe, 
ready to start for the prize, the mark of universal 
emulation, the commonweal ; officious to promote 
that interest, which is at once the public's and his 
own. So stands a constitution informed with the 
very essence of liberty. ' It has so stood, while oth- 
er neighbouring states have been blackened and de- 
faced with frequent revolution. And we prophe- 
-v, that till the approach of some unforeseen vice ; 
lill some degeneracy unknown to the sires, creep 
upon the sons, St. Marino must stand admired : as 
in its present circumstance, no prince or potentate. 



151 

after sitting down and counting the cost, will ever 
attempt the impenetrable union of so much prudence 
and virtue.^ 

The name of Venice now occurs to memory, as 
another modern example of genuine greatness. The 
ascendancy gained by thrtt single city over the whole 
Ottoman power ; the universal panic that struck 
and pervaded all orders of the Turks, when routed 
at Dardanelles, and the reasonable fear of approach- 
ing dissolution that reached even to the throne, and 
blasted the heart and withered the nerves of a des-- 
pot ; these, amazing at first, nevertheless appear, 
when their springs are laid open, the natural issues 
of a contest between free agents and slaves. f 

A more ancient and perhaps still more brilliant 
proof of the proportionate powers of different de- 
grees of liberty, may be gathered from the annals 
of the city of Tyre. The Lybian madman, :j: who 
thought he had conquered all, and wept that he had 
no more to conquer ;§ the invincible son of Jove, 
before whom principalities and pov/ers had bowed 
down their heads as a bulrush ; behold him, with 
his phalanx, puzzled and confounded at the walls of 
Tyre. To overrun Asia cost him less labour, en- 
terprise and valour, than the reduction of this one 
favourite haunt of liberty.^ And perhaps he had 
never reduced her, but for her own falling oif from 
her pristine wisdom. Her liberty was not iu first 

* Many of the facts here mentioned of St. Marino may be seen 
in Addison's more complete account of that republic. 

f This alludes only to a particular era in the Venetian history. 

^ And the horn'd head bely'd the Lybian god. Pope. 

§ Alexander, after all his conquests, complained that he had no 
more worlds to subdue. Seneca of a happy life. 

^ For an illustration of this, see Ancient Universal History, vol. ii. 
gage 75, and on ; also, that part of Newton on the Prophecie?, 
which relates to Tyre, vol, i. 



iS2 

full vigour, but had received a shock from corrup- 
tion introduced with riches. Bribery, pride, and 
oppression, followed close behind. She was then 
cast out as prophane from the mountain of God."* 
Tyre is become like the top of a rock ; a place to 
spread nets upon. 

Let us consider the story of Tyre as a monument 
which, upon one side, shews the force of excellence, 
and upon the other, the baneful influence of vice ; 
a memento that every state below the sun has, like 
Achilles of old, some vulnerable part. As not a 
nation is exempted ; and lest, in a fond prejudice, 
we might exclude our own America, and so induce 
a fatal security, even America has received a caveat 
from heaven, and in her youthful purity has been 
tempted by her enemies. With what sort of success 
tempted we need but remember the machinations 
and flight of the most infamous Arnold, and the. af- 
fecting, though just separation of the unfortunate 
Andre. Happy the nation that, apprized of the 
whole truth, impartially weighs its own alloy, and 
bars, with tenfold adamant, its gate of danger. 
But to return : 

I had cherished some aversion to nam.es grown 
trite by repetition, and had, on that account, evaded 
the ancient republics. But I find the observation 
just, that " half our learning is their epitaph." I 
conceive that the " moss grown" columns and brok- 
en arches of those once renowned empires are full 
with instruction as were the groves of Lyceum or 
the school of Plato. Let Greece then be the sub- 
ject of a moment's reflection. When liberty fled 
from the gloom of Egypt, she sought out and set- 
tled at infant Greece ; there disseminated the seeds 
of greatness j there laid the groundwork of repuh- 

* EzEKiEt xxxiii, ley 



153 

lican glory. Simplicity of manners, piety to the 
gods, generosity and courage were her earliest char- 
acter. " Human nature shot wild and free."^ 
Penetrated with a spirit of industry, her sons scarce- 
ly knew of relaxation : even their sports were hero- 
ic. Hence that elevated, independent soul, that 
contempt of danger, that laudable bias to their 
country and its manners. Upon the banks of Eu- 
rota flourished her principal state. Frugality of 
living and an avarice of time were of the riches of 
Lacedsemon. Her maxims were drawn from na- 
ture, and one was " that nothing which bore the 
name of Greek was born for slavery." From this 
idea flowed an assistance to her sister states. From 
a like idea in her sister states that friendship was 
returned in grateful measure. This, had it contin- 
ued, would have formed the link of empire, the 
charm that would have united, and made Greece in- 
vulnerable. While it lasted, the joint efforts of her 
states rendered her a name and a praise through the 
v/hole earth. And here, was it not for the sake of 
a lesson to my country, I would not only drop my 
eulogium of Greece, but draw an impervious veil 
over her remaining history. Her tenfold lustre 
might at this day have blazed to heaven, had the 
unionf of her states been held more sacred. But 

^ From Dr. Blair's Dissertation up©n the works of Osslan. 

f Accuracy has been offended that this example is employed fos 
the American States, which resemble each other in constitution, 
and are united in their last resort ; whereas, the Grecian were un- 
like among themselves, and professedly separate. But attention to 
the history of Greece will discover in the causes of her fall, a lesson 
sufficiently opposite to our purpose. The anonymous translator of 
Tourreil writes as follows : " When Persia, so often vanquished by 
the Grecians, despaired of subduing them, her last shift was to di- 
vide them ; to which their prosperity opened her a means. Spirits 
naturally quick and too licentious, blown up with their frequent 
irictQries, could not contain themselves, or govern their good ios^ 



154 

that union of her states, that cement of her existence 
once impaired, hear the consequence ! the fury of 
civil war blows her accursed clarion, the banners 
late of conquering freedom, now adorn the tri- 
umphs of oppression. Those states which lately 
stood in mighty concert, invincible, now breathe 
mutual jealousy, and fall piecemeal a prey to the 
common enemy. Attic wisdom, Theban hardi- 
hood, Spartan valour, would not combine to save 
her. That very army, which Greece had bred and 
nourished to reduce the oriental pride, is turned 
vulture upon her own vitals ; a damnable parricide, 
the faction of a tyrant. Behold the great and god- 
like Greece, with all her battlements and towers 
about her, borne headlong from her giddy height j 
the shame, the pity of the world. 

Having attempted some general sketches of lib- 
erty, from the dawn of social life to the fall of na- 
tional glory, I would be somewhat more particular 
upon those qualities to which her triumphs are 
chiefly indebted. 

In the vile economy of depraved man, there ap- 
pears an inclination to bestow upon one part power 
and affluence, and to impose upon the other debility 
and woe. When that inclination is gratified, the 
majority being slaves, the remains of freedom are 
shared among the great ; like the triumphal bridge 

tune ; they abandoned themselves to jealousies and ambition. 
These divisions ended, at last, in a general slavery." 

Thomson most beautifully speaks the truth upon the same occa- 
sion. 

When Greece with Greece, 

Embroil'd with foul contention, fought no more 

For common glory, and for common weal : 

But, false to freedom, sought to quell the free ; 

Broke the firm band of peace, and sacred love. 

That lent the whole irrefragable force ; 

And, as around the partial trophy blush'd. 

Prepay 'd the way for total overthrow. 



iss 

at the Archipelago, so strangely dignified, that, by 
a decree of senate, none of the vulgar were suffered 
to enjoy it. When that inclination is counterbal- 
anced by the laws ; when the true interests of both 
those parts are reconciled ; when society is consid- 
ered as " a public combination for private protec- 
tion,"* and the governed find their happiness in 
their submission ; there is the essence of all pow- 
erful liberty. Not to wiredraw a sentiment already 
graven upon the hearts of this audience, it is such a 
liberty, as that every man who has once tasted it, 
becomes a temporary soldier as soon as it is invad-, 
ed, and resents any violence offered it, as an attack 
upon his life ; hence it is, that in free states, as 
such, there is no such thing as a perpetual standing 
army. For the whole body of the people, ever 
ready, flock to the general standard upon emergen- 
cy, and so preclude the use of that infernal engine. 
I say infernal engine, for the tongue " labours, and 
is at a loss to express," the hideous and frightful 
consequences that flow wherever the powers of hell 
have procured its introduction. Turkey and A1-- 
giers are the delight of its vengeance. Denmark^ 
©nee overswarmed with the brave inhabitants of the 
north, has suffered depopulation, poverty, and the 
heaviest bondage, from the quartering troops 
amongst their peasants in time of peace : if it can 
be called peace, when robbery, conflagration, and 
murder are let loose upon the sons of men. In- 
deed, it is said that no nation ever kept up an army 
in time of peace, that did not lose its liberties. I 
believe it. Athens, Corinth, Syracuse, and Greece 
in general, were all overturned by ^hat tremendous 
power : and the same power has been long operat- 
ing with other causes, to humble the crest of Brit- 

* Ead of Abingdofl,. 



156 

ain. Let us hear a passage from Daveuant ! " If 
(says he, speaking of standing armies) they who 
believed this eagle in the air frighted all motions 
towards liberty ; if they who heretofore thought 
armies in time of peace, and our freedom inconsis- 
tent ; if the same men should throw off a whig prin- 
ciple so fundamental, and thus come to clothe 
themselves with the detested garments of the to- 
nes, and if all that has been here discoursed on 
should happen, then will the constitution of this 
country be utterly subverted.'!"^ It would exceed 
the limits of the present occasion to expatiate upon 
all the instances, wherein the liberties of Britain 
have in fact suffered, according to the views of Da- 
venant. Suffice it to say, that a standing army has 
been, long since, virtually engrafted a limb upon 
her constitution, has frequently overavved her par- 
liaments, sometimes her elections,! and has carried 
distraction and massacre:}: into different parts of her 
empire. 

That standing mercenary troops must sooner or 
later entail servitude and misery upon their employ- 
ers, is an eternal truth that appears from the nature 
of things. On the one hand behold an inspir d 
yeomanry, all sinew and soul, having stepped out 
and defended their ancient altars, their wives and 
children, returning in peace to till those fields which 
their own arms have rescued. Such are the troops 

* For the whole passage, which was too lengthy for our purpose, 
vid. the works of Dr. Davenant, corrected by Whitworth, vol. ii. 
•p. 333. Edition 1771. 

f The election of the Scotch Peers in the year 1 735, and the mis- 
conduct of Blackerby and others, at the election of the Westminster 
members, in the year 1741, are instances well known. Vid. 
Burgh's politic disq. vol. ii. p. 444, 473. 

^ The affair of Capt. Porteus at Edinburgh (vid. London Maga- 
zine for 1737, in a variety of pages) and of Capt. Preston,, at Bos- 
ton, are of themselves sufficient example?/ 



157 

of every free people.* Such were the troops who, 
led on by the patriot Warren, gave the first home 
blow to our oppressors. Such were the troops who, 
fired by Gates in the northern woods, almost deci- 
ded the fate of nations. Such were the troops who, 
under the great and amiable Lincoln, sustained a 
siege in circumstances that rank him and them with 
the captains and soldiers of antiquity. Such, we 
trust, are the troops, who, inferior in number, though 
headed indeed by the gallant and judicious Morgan, 
lately vanquished a chosen veteran band long dedi- 
cated to Mars and disciplined in blood. And such, 
we doubt not, are the troops who beat the British 
legions from the Jersies, and have ever since pre- 
served their country, under the conduct of that su- 
perior man who combines in quality the unshaken 
constancy of Cato, the triumphant delay of Fabius, 
and, upon proper occasions, the enterprising spirit 
of Hannibal. 

May the name of Washington continue steeled 
as it ever has been, to the dark slanderous arrow 
that flies in secret. As it ever has been ! for wh( 
have offered to eclipse his glory, but have after 
ward sunk away diminished, and " shorn of thei] 
own beams." 

Justice to other characters forbids our stopping 
to gaze at this constellation of heroes, and would 
fain draw forth an eulogium upon all who have 
gathered irnr laurels from tht^ fields of America. 

" Thousands — the tribute of our praise 

" Demand ; but who can count the stars of Heaven ? 

" Who speak their influence on this lower world ?" Thom„ 

* " That the yeomanry are the bulwark of a free people," was, 
if memory serves, in a celebrated extempore speech of the honour- 
able Samuel Adams, made in the year 1773. The steadiness of that 
great Republican to his political creed, evinces that sentiments 
grounded upon just data will not easily bend to a partial interest,- 
ox accommodate to the changes of popular opinion. 
O 



158 

Whither has our gratitude borne us ? let us 
behold a contrast ; the army of an absolute prince ; 
a profession distinct from the citizen and in a dif- 
ferent interest ; a haughty phalanx, whose object 
of warfare is pay, and who, the battle over, and if 
perchance they conquer, return to slaughter the 
sons of peace. This is a hard saying. But does 
not all history press forward to assert its justice ? 
do not the praetorian bands of tottering Rome now 
crowd upon the affrighted memory ? do not the em- 
bodied guards from Petersburgh and Constantinople 
stalk horrid the tools of revolution and murder ? 
To come nearer home for an example, do we not 
see the darkened spring of 1770, like the moon in a 
thick atmosphere, rising in blood and ushered in 
by the figure of Britain plunging her poniard in the 
young bosom of America ? Oh, our bleeding coun- 
try ! was it for this our hoary sires sought thee 
through all the elements,^ and having found thee 
sheltering away from the western wave, disconso- 
late, cheered thy sad face, and decked thee out like 
the garden of God ? time was, when we could all 
affirm to this gloomy question ; when we were 
ready to cry out that our fathers had done a vain 
thing. I mean upon that unnatural night which we 
now commemorate ; when the fire of Brutus was 
on many a heart ; when the strain of Gracchus was 
on many a tongue. " Wretch that I am, whither 
shall I retreat ? whither shall I turn me ? to the 
capitol ? the capitol swims in my brother's blood. 
To my family ? there must I see a wretched, a 
mournful and afHicted mother."f Misery loves to 
brood over its own woes : and so peculiar were the 
%voes of that night, so expressive the pictures of 



elementa per omina quserum. iw., 



f Guthrie's Cicero de Oratore. 



159 

despair, so various the face of death,-'^ that not all 
the grand tragedies which have been since acted, 
can crowd from our minds that era of the human 
passions, that preface to the general conflict that 
now rages. May we never forget to offer a sacri- 
fice to the manes of our brethren, who bled so early 
at the foot of liberty. Hitherto we have nobly 
avenged their fall : but as ages cannot expunge the 
debt, their melancholy ghosts still rise at a stated 
season, and will for ever wander in the night of this 
noted anniversary. Let us then be frequent pil- 
grims at their tombs ; there let us profit of all our 
feelings ; and, while the senses are " struck deep 
with woe," give wing to the imagination. Hark ! 
even now in the hollow wind, I hear the voice of 
the departed. O ye, who listen to wisdom and 
aspire to immortality, as ye have avenged ouv 
blood, thrice blessed ! as ye still war against the 
mighty hunters of the earth, your names are re- 
corded in heaven ! 

Such are the suggestions of fancy : and having 
given them their due scope ; having described the 
memorable Fifth of March as a season of disaster, 
it would be an impiety not to consider it in its other 
relation. For the rising honours of these states are 
distant issues, as it were, from the intricate, f 
though all wise Divinity, which presided upon that 
night. Strike that night out of time, and we quench 
the first ardour of aresentment, which has been ever 
since increasing, and now accelerates the fall of tyr- 
anny. The provocations of that night, must be 
numbered among the master springs which gave 
the first motion to a vast machinery, a noble and 

* " Plurima Mortis Imago." 

.>f " Th'e ways of heaven are dark and intricate." 

Addison's CAi»e. 



160 

comprehensive system of national independence, 
'■' The independence of America," says the writer 
under the signature of Common Sense, " should 
have been considered as dating its era from the 
tirst musket that was fired against her." Be it so ! 
but Massachusetts may certainly date many of its 
blessings from the Boston massacre ; a dark hour 
in itself, but from which a marvellous light has 
arisen. From that night, revolution became in^ 
evitable, and the occasion commenced of the 
present most beautiful form of government. We 
often read of the original contract, and of mankind, 
in the early ages, passing from a state of nature to 
immediate civilization. But what eye could pen- 
etrate through,gothic night and barbarous fable to 
that remote period. Such an eye, perhaps, was 
present, when the Deity conceived the universe and 
fixed his compass upon the great deep.* 

And yet the people of Massachusetts have re- 
duced to practice the wonderful theory. A nume- 
rous people have convened in a state of nature, and, 
like our ideas of the patriarchs, have deputed a few 
fathers of the land to draw up for them a glorious 
covenant. It has been drawn. The people have 
signed it with rapture, and have, thereby, bartered, 
among themselves, an easy degree of obedience for 
the highest possible civil happiness. To render 
that covenant eternal, patriotism and political virtue 
must for ever blaze ; must blaze at the present day 

"* Not t?iat we can believe, with some theoretical writers, that 
individuals met together in a large plain, entered into an original 
contract, &c. 

But though society had not its formal beginning from any con- 
vention of individuals, &c. 

And this is what we mean by the original contract of society ; 
which, though perhaps, in no instance it has been formally ejir 
pressed, at the first institution of a state, yet, &c. 

1st Blackstone's Com. p. 47, vid. the whole passage. 



161 

with superlative lustre ; being watched, from dif- 
ferent motives, by the eyes of all mankind. Nor 
must that patriotism be contracted to a single com- 
monwealth. A combination of the states is requi- 
site to support them individually. " Unite or 
die," is our indispensable motto. Every step from 
it, is a step nearer to the region of death. This 
idea was never more occasional than at the presem: 
crisis ; a crisis pregnant with fate and ready to 
burst with calamity. I allude to that languor, 
which, like a low hung cloud, overshadows a great 
part of the thirteen states. That the young, enter- 
prising America, who stepped out in the cause of 
human kind, and, no other arm daring, lopped the 
branches of wide despotic empire ; that the same 
America should now suffer a few insolent bands to 
ravage her borders with impunity ; that her now 
tardy hand should suspend the finishing stroke of 
resentment, and leave to her generous allies a labour 
which her own vigour ought to effect ; this must dis- 
turb those illustrious, who fell in her infant exer- 
tions ; this must stab the peace of the dead, how- 
ever it may affect the hearts of the living. O could 
I bear a part among the means of awakening virtue, 
oh could I call strength to these feeble lungs and 
borrow that note which shook the throne of Julius ! 
vain wish ! if the silent suggestions of truth ; if 
the secret whispers of reason are not sufficient 9 
the efforts of human eloquence might be futile, her 
loudest bolt might roll unheeded ! 

This is not intended to inspire gloom ; but only to 
persuade to those exertions which are necessary t?0 
life and independence. Let justice then be done 
to our country ; let justice be done to our great 
leader ; and, the only means under heaven of our 
salvation, let his army be replenished. That grand 
duty over, we will once more adopt an enthusiasm 
2 



16r2 

sublime in itself, but still more so as coming from 
the lips of a first patriot, the chief magistrate of 
this commonwealth. " I have," said he, " a most 
animating confidence that the present noble struggle 
for liberty, will terminate gloriously for America.*' 
Aspiring to such a confidence, 

I see the expressive leaves of fate thrown wide ; 
Of future times I see the mighty tide, 
Aiid, borne triumphant on its buoyant wave, 
A god hke number of the great and brave. 
The bright, wide ranks of martyrs, here they rise I 
Heroes and patriots move before my eyes : 
These crown'd with oUve, those with laurel come, 
Like the first fathers of immortal Rome. 
Fly time ! oh lash thy fiery steeds away, 
Roll rapid wheels, and bring the smiling day,* 
When these blest states, another promis'd land, 
Chosen out, and foster'd by the Almighty hand, 
Supreme shall rise ; their crowded shores shall Ije 
'The fix'd abodes of empire and of liberty. 

•^ Sun gallop down the western skies, 
Gang soon to bed and quickly rise ; 
O lash your steeds, post time away, 
And haste about the breezing day. 



CEJVEii'' 




ORATION, 

DELIVERED AT BOSTON, MARCH 5, 17^.2, 



BY GEORGE RICHARDS MINOT. 



Quid tantum insano juvat indulgere dolori ? 
■ non haec sine numine divum 

viRG. ^n. 2d, 77(;v 
Eveniunt. ■ 

Inde genus durum sumus, experiensque laborum ; 
Et documenta damus, qua simus origine nati. 

Ovid Metam. lib. 1. 414, 



VATHERSi FRIENDS, AND FELlOfF CITIZENS, 

WHEN i consider the important occasion 
from which this anniversary derives its origin, and 
the respectable characters that have exerted them- 
selves to perpetuate its history, I confess there is 
an unusual security in my feelings ; since no mis- 
taken effort of mine can injure an institution, found- 
ed on so memorable an event, and supported by 
names so justly claiming the applause of posterity,. 
While I rely, then, upon that honesty ot inten- 
tion, which is itself the best apology for its errors, 
permit me to employ the present hour, which your 
united voices have annually made sacred to the 
commemoration of our country's wrongs, in reca- 
pitulating the most injurious of her sufferings, 
among which that on the tragical fifth of Marcii is 
by no means the least, and in recounting the bless- 
ings which have followed from measures as really 
disgraceful to those who adopted them, as they were 



164 

♦intentionally destructive to those against whom 
they were levelled. 

A nation falling from those great principles of 
justice and virtue which had made her respectable ;. 
subverting the boasted improvements of her arts to 
the savage purposes of revenge ; with venality and 
corruption intrenched on her cabinet, affords a 
spectacle too serious for the amusement of the be- 
holder. He turns for relief to the annals of those 
people whose masculine virtues have obstinately, 
will he not say wisely, resisted the refinement 
of a civilized world. But from the misfortunes of 
such a nation, much is to be learned. As she is 
hurried onwards by the vortex of that immeasure- 
"^ble gulf, in which empires sink to rise no more, 
let her serve us as a signal to avoid the first impulse 
of its resistless tide. 

To trace Great Britain through the whole pro- 
gress of her ambition in this country, would be to 
step back to a very early period : for, long before 
she avowed her system of colonial slavery in the 
stamp act, the liberties of our ancestors had endur- 
ed the most alarming innovations from her throne. 
Without cause, and without notice, she had invali-1 
dated their charters ; laid impositions upon their 
trade ; attempted a most dangerous influence over 
their internal government, by endeavouring to 
make it independent of the people j and all this 
with the same confidence, as though her policy and 
foresight, and not her persecutions, had settled 
them on this side the Atlantic. 

But the full display of her despotic policy was 
reserved to add accumulated disgrace to the inglo- 
rious reign of the third George. Then, intoxicat- 
ed with America, she slumbered upon the totter- 
ing pillars of her own constitution ; the hand of 
slavery rocked her as she lay on the giddy height ; 



tes 

falsehood gilded her visions and bound her senses 
with the enchantment of success ; while her blind 
ambition alone, remained awake, to misdirect the 
ordinary assistance of fortune, and to make her fall 
equally certain and complete. 

The genius of Britain once interred, the first 
spectre which shot from its tomb, was the stamp 
act. This promulgation of a scheme so repugnant 
to the fundamental principles of the late English 
constitution, announced the fall, but did not oblit- 
erate the memory of that much respected system, 
in this country. America saw that the act bore 
not a single feature of its reputed parent, and hav- 
mg detected its illegitimacy, effectually resisted its 
operation. But, as though conviction must ever 
be productive of obstinacy, Britain desisted not to 
rend in pieces the charters of her colonies, which 
served to remind her of the violence she commit- 
ted on her own. Her administration affecting to 
realize the fables* of its minions, whose very fears 
were as subservient to its purposes, as their hopes 
were dependent on its venality, and making pre- 
tence of trespasses, which, if real, the laws were 
open to punish, unmasked its true designs, by 
quartering an armed force in this metropolis, in a 
time of peace. 

Where was the citizen whose indignation did 
not flash at this undisguised attack on his liberties ? 
the soldiers pride too grew sanguinary at the idea 
of contempt from the people he himself had been 
taught to despise ; and, as though heaven designed 
to effect its greatest purposes by the sacrifice of 



* For some of these fanciful misrepresentations, see a vindica- 
tion of the town of Boston, from many false and malicious asper- 
sions contained in certain letters written by Governor Bernard and 
•thers, published by order of the town, 1769. 



166 

what men conceive to be the dearest objects of its 
guardianship, the lives and rights of citizens were 
delivered over to the scourge of military rancour. 
^ Venerable patrons of freedom, wherever your 
country may lie ! boast not that the reason and 
speculative truths of this our common cause, armed 
an extensive world in support of its justice. Turn 
to the tragedy we commemorate as imprinted by 
the bloody hand of the tyrant, and view the highest 
outrage his power could commit, or the forbear- 
ance of humanity sustain. There hecatombs of 
slaughtered citizens were offered at the shrine of 
cursed ambition. What can we add to their mem- 
ories through whose wounds their country bled ; 
whose names are handed round the globe with the 
great occasion on which they fell ; and whose tomb 
shall ever stand a basis to the stateliest pillar in the 
temple of freedom ? heaven has avenged their fall, 
by realizing the prophecy of the indignant Amer- 
ican, as he vented his anguish over their rankling 
blood. " These are indeed my country's wounds,| 
but oh ! said he, the deep and tremendous resti- 
tutions are at hand ! I see them with a prophetic 
eye this moment before me. Horrors shall be re- 
paid Avith accumulation of horror. The wounds in 
America, shall be succeeded by deep mouthed 
gashes in the heart of Britain ! the chain of solemn 
consequences is now advancing. Yet, yet my 
friends, a little while, and the poor, forlorn one, 
who has fought and fallen at the gate of her proper 
habitation, for freedom, for the common privileges 
of life, for all the sweet and binding principles in 
humanity, for father, son, and brother, for the cra- 
dled infant, the wailing ♦widovy, and the weeping 

* See Abbe RaynaFs hist, /imenczxi revolution, p, 6^5. 
f Anonymous. 



ley 

maid ; yet, yet a little while, and she shall find ail 
avenger. Indignant nations shall arm in her de- 
fence. Thrones and principalities shall make her 
cause their own, and the fomitains of blood that 
have run from her exhausted veins shall be an- 
swered by a yet fuller measure of the horrible effu- 
sion — blood for blood ; and desolation for desola- 
tion ; O my injured country ! my massacred 
America !" 

Melancholy scene ! the fatal, but, we trust, the 
last eifect in our country of a standing army quar- 
tered in populous cities in a time of peace. 

Britain having thus violated the greatest law na- 
tions or individuals can be held by, to use the lan- 
guage of the ancients, threw a veil over the altars 
of her gods, whom she was too haughty to appease. 
Would to heaven, for her sake, we too had a veil to 
hide from the eye of justice, the ashes of our deso- 
lated towns, and the tracts which her ravages have 
imprinted through every quarter of our once peace- 
ful land. 

If " every act of authority of one person over 
another, for which there is not an absolute necessity, 
is tyrannic al,"=^ and if tyranny justifies resistance, to 
have remained inactive under these injuries, had 
been a kind of political stoicism, equally incoiiblst- 
ent with the lav/s of nature and of society. On 
such principles arose the memorable declaration of 
July, 1776 : a declaration which at once gave life 
and freedom to a nation ; dissolved a monopoly 
unnatural as unjust : and extended the embraces of 
our country to the universe ; a declaration which 
heaven has since ratified by the successful event of 
her arms. For, when we consider the number of 
her victories ; the disadvantages under which they 

* Beccaeria, on crimes and puni^lunents, p. 10. 



168 

were obtained ; with the chain of important conse- 
quences, which depended upon the very moment to 
their decision, who but must acknowledge, after al- 
lowing to our military actors every thing heroism 
can claim, that there appeared peculiar marks of 
more than human assistance ? the surrender of en- 
tire armies to a power which they affected to look 
upon rather as an object of their chains than of 
their swords, was a degree of glory which no enemy 
that ever passed the Roman yoke afforded to that 
republic. Hapless Britain ! for even those whom 
you injure must pity you, how has fortune added 
acrimony to her fickleness, in choosing for a scene 
of your disgrace, that climate where, in a late war, 
she so loudly vaunted the invincibility of your 
arms ! 

America once unfettered, nobly relied upon the 
uprightness of her cause, and the bravery of her 
sons. But, as though the virtues of one crown 
were to apologize for the merciless cruelty of an- 
other, a monarch, equally wise in council, as bril- 
liant and powerful in arms, met her in an alliance, 
which must ever enliven her gratitude ; exalt the 
honour of France ; and, we trust too, promote the 
interest of both. 

Among the advantages which have arisen from 
these great events to the people of Massachusetts, 
that of securing their lives, their liberties, and 
property, the great object of all civil government, 
by a constitution of their own framing, is not to be 
accoimted the least. Dismembered from a govern- 
ment, which had long stood by the exactest balance 
of its powers, even against the corruption of its 
ministers, they found themselves accustomed to 
principles, which age had stamped with authority, 
and patriots sealed with their blood. The cause of 
^leir separation had taught them the avenues 



169 

through which despotism insinuates itself into the 
community, and pointed out the means of exclud- 
ing it. Under these circumstances, they produced 
a system, which, we trust, experience will evince 
to be an improvement^ upon the best mankind have 
hitherto admired. The quick return of all delegat- 
ed power to the people, from whom it is made to 
spring, and the check which each part of the gov- 
ernment has upon the excesses of the other, seem 
to warrant us in placing on it all the confidence hu- 
man laws can deserve. But, 

Let us not trust to laws : an uncorrupted people 
can exist without them ; a corrupted people cannot 
long exist with them, or any other human assist- 
ance. They are remedies, which at best always 
disclose and confess our evils. The body politic, 
once distempered, they may indeed be used as a 
crutch to support it awhile, but they can never heal 
it. Rome, when her bravery conquered the neigh- 
bouring nations, and united them to her own em- 
pire, was free from all danger within, because her 
armies, being urged on by a love for their country, 
would as readily suppress an internal as an external 
enemy. In those times, she made no scruple to 
throw out her kings who had abused their power. 
But when her subjects fought not for the advantage 
of the commonwealth ; when they thronged to the 
Asiatic wars for the spoils they produced, and pre- 
ferred prostituting the rights of citizenship upoR 
any barbarian that demanded them, to meeting him. 
in the field for their support ; then Rome grew too 
modest to accept from the hands of a dictator those 
rights, which she ought to have impaled him fojr 
daring to invade. No alteration in her laws mere- 

* Is it not so in the equality of representation and mode of elec- 
tion ? 

P 



170 

'Jy, could have effected this. Had she remained 
virtuous, she might as well have expelled her dic- 
tators as her kings. But what laws can save a peo- 
ple who, for the very purpose of enslaving them- 
selves, choose to consider them rather as counsels, 
which they may accept or refuse, than as precepts 
which they are bound to obey ?* With such a peo- 
ple, they must ever want a sanction, and be con- 
temned. Virtuef and long life seem to be as inti- 
mately allied in the political, as in the moral world : 
she is the guard which Providence has set at the gate 
of freedom. 

True it is, when the nature and principles of a 
government are pure, we have a right to suppose it 
at the farthest possible distance from falling. But 
when we consider that those countries:]: in which 
the wisest institutions of republican governments 
have been established, now exhibit the strongest in- 
stances of apostacy, we cannot but see the necessity 
of vigilance. Commerce, which makes, perhaps, 
the greatest distinction between the old world and 
the modern, having raised new objects for our cu- 
riosity, habitual indulgence hath, at length, made 
them necessary to our infirmities. Thus effemi- 
nated, can v*re hope to exceed the rigour of their 

* A conscience more scrupulous than it is probable Sylia ever 
had, would be apt to imagine this general disposition of the people, 
wiped away the guilt of enslaving them from any hand that efFe«t- 
ed it. If in any case, it is in this that we may apply the maxim, 
volenti mon iit injuria. 

f Virtue, in a republic, is a most simple tiling; it is a love for the 
republic ; it is a sensation, and not a consequence of acquired 
knowledge : a sensation that may be felt by the meanest as well as 
by the highest person in the state. Spirit of I -aws, book v. ch. 2. 

\ The politic Greeks, who lived under a popular government, 
who knew no other support but virtue. The modern inhabitants 
of that country are entirely taken up with manufactures, com- 
merce, finances, riches, and luxury. Spirit of Laws, book iii. ch. ?>.■ 



171 

principles, who even forbade the mentioning of a 
foreign custom, and whose sumptuary laws are held 
up in our age as objects of astonishment ? Such na- 
tions have mouldered away, an uncontrovertible 
proof, that the best constructed human govern- 
ments, like the human body, tend to corruption : 
but as with that too, there are not wanting remedies 
to procrastinate their final decay. 

Among the causes of their fall, there are none 
more common or less natural than that of their own 
strength. Continual wars making a military force 
necessary, the habit of conquest once acquired and 
other objects being wanting, history is not without 
instances of its turning itself inwards, and gnawing 
as it were, upon its own bowels.* Happy are we 
in the frequent change of our soldiery.f This 
seems to be the best antidote against such an evil. 
it prevents that lethargy, which would be a symp- 
tom of death in the citizen at home ; and checks 
that immoderation in the soldier, which is apt to 
mislead his virtues in the field. By this exchange 
of their qualities, they mutually warrant happiness 
to each ether, and freedom to their country. 

America, once guarded against herself, what has 
she to fear ? Her natural situation may well inspire 
her with confidence. Her rocks and her mountains 
are the chosen temples of liberty. The extent of 
her climate, and the variety of its produce, throw 

* For a complete coUectioB of these, I beg leave to refer to the 
Sd book of the Political Disquisitions. 

f The design of society being to protect the weak against the 
more powerful, whatever tends to taking away the distinction be- 
tween them, and to putting all its members upon the same level, 
must be consonant to its first principles. This was an object with 
the old republics ; Rome obliged her citizens to serve in the field 
ten years between the age of sixteen years and forty seven. Vid, 
Reflections on the rise and fall of the Rom. Emp. c.lO, last note. 



172 

the means of her greatness into her o^vn hands, and 
insure^ her the traffic of the world. Navies shall 
launch from her forests, and her bosom be found 
stored with the most precious treasures of nature. 
May the industry of her people be a still surer 
pledge of her wealth. The union of her states too 
is founded upon the most durable principles : the 
similarity of the manners, religion, and laws of their 
inhabitants, must ever support the measure, which 
their common injuries originated. Her govern- 
ment, while it is restrained from violating the rights 
of the subject, is not disarmed against the public 
foe. 

Could Junius Brutus, and his colleagues, have 
beheld her republic erecting itself on the disjointed 
neck of tyranny, how would they have wreathed a 
laurel for her temples, as eternal as their own mem- 
ories! America ! fairest copy of such great origin- 
als ! be virtuous, and thy reign shall be as happy as 
durable, and as durable as the pillars of the W9rld 
you have enfrajichised. 



ORATION, 

DELIVERED AT BOSTON, MARCH 5, 17^3. 



BY DR. THOMAS WELSH, 



Non tali auxllio, nee defensoribus Istis 

Tempus eget : Virg. ^neid, Lib. 2, Lin. 5i^^. 

FRIENDS, AND FELLOW CITIZENS} 

INVITED to this place by your choice, 
and recollecting your well known indulgence, 1 
feel myself already possessed of your candour, while 
I " impress upon your minds, the ruinous tenden- 
cy of standing armies being placed in free and popr 
iilous cities in a time of peace*" 

A field here presents annually traversed by those, 
who, by their sagacity, have discovered, and by 
their voices declared, in strains of manly eloquence, 
the source from whence those fatal streams origin- 
ate, which, like the destroying pestilence, have de- 
populated kingdoms and laid waste the fairest em- 
pires. 

In prosecution of the subject, I presume I shall 
not offend a respectable part of my audience, I mean 
the gentlemen of the American patriot armv ;* 
an army whose glory and viriur s h ive been long 

* I should not have neglected so favourable an opening to have 
shewn my poor respects to the character of the Commander in Chief 
of the American army, but from a conciousness of inability to add 
to a name, more durable than marble, v/hich will outlive the as- 
saults of envy and the ravages of timet 
P2 



ir4 

since recorded in the temple of fame ; her trum- 
pet has sounded their praises to distant nations ; 
her wings shfill bear them to latest ages. 

When the daring spirit of ambition, or the 
boundless lust of domination, has prompted men to 
invade the* natural peaceful state of society, it is 
among the first emotions of the heart, to repel the 
bold invader. Men, assembled from such motives, 
having expelled the enemy from their borders, re- 
assuming the pruning hook and the spade, for the 
sword and spear, have, in all ages, been called the 
saviours of their country. 

A militia is the most natural defence of a free 
state, from invasion and tyranny : they who com- 
pose the militia, are the proprietors of the soil ; 
and who are so likely to defend it, as they who have 
received it from their ancestors ; acquired it by 
their labour, or obtained it by their valour ? every 
free man has within his breast the great essentials 
of a soldier, and having made the use of arms fa- 
miliar, is ever ready for the field. And where is 
t\iQ tyrant who has not reason to dread an army of 
freemen ? 

In the battle of Naseby,f in the days of Crom- 
ivell, the number of forces was equal on both sides ; 
and all circumstances equal. In the parliament's ar- 
mv only nine officers had ever seen actual service, 
and most of the soldiers were London apprentices, 
4rawn out of the city two months before. In the 

■-' The natural state of nations with respect to each other, is cep- 
tainly that of society and peace. Such is the natural and primitive 
state of one man with respect to another ; and whatever altera- 
tion mankind may have made in regard to their original state, they 
cannot, without violating their duty, break in upon that state oS 
peace and society, in which nature has placed them, and which, by 
her laws, she has strongly recommended to their observance. 

Bur LAM QUI, Part 4, Chap. 1. Sect. 4. 

■\' Vid. Political Disquisitions 



175 

king's army there were about a thousand officers 
who had served abroad, yet the veterans were rout- 
ed by the apprentices. 

Rome advanced on the zenith of glory and 
greatness, and conquered all nations in the times 
of the republic, while her army was an unpaid mili- 
tia. 

The Grecians carried on their wars against Per- 
sia by means of their militia ; and at last beat the 
numerous mercenary armies, and subdued the vast 
empire of Persia. 

The deeds of valour performed by my own coun- 
trymen, and in our day, are numerous and recent, 
and point out, as with a sun beam, that the militia is 
to a free country, a lasting security. 

You will now permit me to consider the condi- 
tion and consequences of a standing army. 

Men who enlist themselves for life, soon lose the 
feelings of citizens. To command and be com- 
manded, excites an idea of servitude and depend- 
ance, which degrades the mind, and in a social view 
destroys the character of a free agent. "^ 

They who follow the profession of arms, conceive 
themselves exempted from the useful occupations 
of life, and thence contract a habit of dissipation ; 
soldiers inured to exercise and labour in their duty, 
at leisure to roam, will not be wholly inactive in a 
city, where the means of gratification abound ; pur- 
suing the objects of pleasure, with the same zeal 
with which they engaged in the toils and enter- 

* Moore in his view of society and manners in Europe, ol>- 
serves, " As to the common soldiers, the leading idea of the 
discipline is, to reduce them, in many respects, to the nature 6f 
machines ; that they may have no volition of their own, but be 
actuated solely by that of their officers ; that they may have 
such a superlative dread of their officers^ as annihilates all fear 
of the enemy ; that they may move forward when erdered» 
without deeper reasoning or more concern, than the firelock? 
they carry along with them. 



176 

prizes of the fi^ld, whole armies, hav'e too late found 
themselves destroyed by the dissolving power of 
luxury. 

We have a remarkable instance of this, my feU 
low citizens, in the army of Hanibal, which, having 
withstood the greatest hardships, and which the 
most dreadful dangers had never been able to dis- 
courage, in winter quarters, at Capua, was entirely 
conquered by plenty and pleasures.^ 

The effects of luxury, though productive of the 
greatest misfortunes to an army stationed in a city, are 
by no means confined to that class of men. The great 
body of the people, smote by the charms and bland- 
ishments of a life of ease and pleasure, fall easy 
victims to its fascinations. The city, reared by the 
forming hand of industry, soon feels the symptoms 
of dissolution ; the busy merchant, now no more 
extends his commerce ! the mechanic throws aside 
his chisel j the voice of riot succeeds to the sound 
of the hammer, and the midnight revel to the vigils 
of labour. 

When a large respectable standing army has been 
stationed in a city, commanded by officers of known 
patriotism, who have taught those under their or- 
ders, to interchange the kind and friendly offices of 
life ; citizens, conceiving themselves secured from 
domestic broils, and the danger of invasion from 
abroad, imperceptibly relax in thein attention to 
military exercises, and may thus be exposed as a 
tempting bait to an aspiring despot ; besides, a 
people who have made themselves respectable by 
their personal attention to their OM^n defence, neg- 
lecting their m.ilitia, may be insulted by those neigh- 



* Vid Livy's Roman history for an account of the battles, suf- 
ferinp;-s, and almost Incredible march and destruction of the renown- 
ed Carthaginian general and his army. 



177 

hours who had formerly been accustomed to revere 
their power. 

When communities have so far mistaken their 
interest, as to commit the defence of every thing 
vakiable in hfe to a standing army, the love of ease 
will scarcely permit them to reassume the unpleas- 
ing task of defending themselves. 

At the conclusion of a long and bloody war, the 
liberties of a people are in real danger from the ad- 
mission of troops into a free city. When an army 
has suffered every hardship to which the life of a 
soldier is peculiarly incident, and has returned 
crowned with the well earned laurels of the field, 
they justly expect to be received into the open 
arms, and with the applauses of those for whom 
they have fought, and in whose cause they have 
bled ; in a situation like this, whole communities, 
in transport of gratitude, have weakly sacrificed at 
the shrine of a deliverer, every thing for whicla 
their armies have fought, or their heroes bled. 

Nations the most renowned among the ancients? 
for their wisdom and their policy, have viewed the 
army with an eye of attentive jealousy ; the Ro- 
mans, characterized for personal bravery,^ trem- 
bled for their country, at the sight of one hundred 
and fifty lictors or peace officers, as a guard of the 
decemviri ; such an army was dangerous, they 
said, to liberty. These politic people knew the 
prevailing propensity in all mankind to power. 
The history of later times, has abundantly justified 

^ In the battles fought in our age, every single soldier has very 
little security and confidence except in the multitude ; but among 
the Romans, every individual, more robust and of greater experi- 
ence in war, as well as more inured to the fatigues of it, than the 
enemy, relied upon himself only. He was naturally endued with 
courage, or in other words, with that virtue which a sensibility of 
9ur own strength inspires. Montesquie^. 



178 

the wisdom of their jealousies. All parts of Eu- 
rope which have been enslaved, have been enslaved 
by armies. No nation can be said to enjoy inter- 
nal liberty, which admits them in a time of peace. 
When a government has a body of standing troops 
at command, it is easy to form pretensions for the 
distribution of them, so as to effect their own pur- 
poses ; when a favourite point is to be carried, A 
thousand soldiers may convey irresistible argu- 
ment, and compel men to act against their feelings, 
interest, and country. 

Such were the arguments employed by Philip 
the second, of Spain, to persuade the inhabitants of 
the Netherlands, to relinquish their liberties, their 
property, and their religion ; the progress of these 
dreadful measures, produced scenes of massacre 
and devastation, the recital of which must excite 
exquisite horror in the most savage breast. 

One of the commanders of the army under the 
duke of Alva, demanding a pass through the city 
of Rotterdam,* was at first refused, but assuring 
the magistrates that he meant only to lead his 
troops through the town, and not to lodge them in 
it, they consented to suffer the companies to pass 
through one by one : no sooner had the first com- 
pany entered the city, than the officer, without re- 
gard to his engagements, ordered them to keep, 
the gates open, until the other companies should 
arrive : one of the citizens, endeavouring to shut 
the gate, was killed by his own hand ; his troops, 
eager to follow his example, drew their swords, 
and, giving a loose to their fury, spread themselves 
over the town, and butchered more than three 
hundred of the inhabitants. 



• The whole affair is related at leogfth in Watson*$[ hist, of tfee 
Low Countrie&, to which the reader is referred 



179 

This was among the first events of that war 
which rendered the Netherlands a scene of horror 
and devastation for more than thirty years ; but 
which, whilst it proved the source, on many occa- 
sions, of extreme distress to the people, called 
forth an exertion of virtue, spirit, and intrepidity, 
which seldom occurs in the annals of history* 
Never was there a more unequal contest than be- 
tween the inhabitants of the low countries and the 
Spanish monarch ; and never was the issue of any 
dispute more contrary to what the parties had 
reason to expect. 

Under similar circumstances, my fellow citizens, 
a standing army was introduced and stationed in 
this city ; which produced the scene we now com- 
memorate ; and which I know you cannot all re- 
member ; but let the stranger hear, and let the 
listening youth be told, that on the evening of the 
fifth of March, seventeen hundred and seventy, un- 
der the orders of a mercenary officer, murder, with 
her polluted weapons, stood trampling in the blood 
of our slaughtered countrymen ; imagination can- 
not well conceive what mingling passions then con- 
vulsed the soul and agonized the heart ! those 
pangs were sharp indeed which ushered into life, a 
nation ! like Hercules* she rose brawny from the 
cradle, the snakes of Britain yet hung hissing round 
her, horrible and fell ! at her infant voice they 
hasted ; at the dread of her rising arm they ficd 
away. 

» 

*' Hercules is represented when very young, engaged in the most 
courageous and dangerous enterprizes ; such as encountering lions, 
squeezing them to death against his o^vn breast, or tearing their 
jaws asunder ; sometimes, when an infant, grasping serpents with a 
little smile upon his cheek, as if he was pleased with their fine col- 
ours and their motions, and kilhng them by his strong gripe, with stif 
much ease, that he scarce deigns to look upon them. 



180 

America separated from the nations of Europe 
by the mighty ocean, and from Britain by the 
mightier hand of heaven, is acknowledged an inde- 
pendent nation -, she has now to maintain her dig- 
nity and importance among the kingdoms of the 
earth. May she never be seduced from her true 
interest, by subtle intrigue, mistaken policy, or 
misguided ambition ! but, considering her own 
condition, may she follow the maxims of wisdom, 
which are better than the weapons of war ! 

It has become fashionable in Europe, to keep a 
large standing army in times of peace. The peo- 
ple of Great Britain have professed their aversion 
to the establishment, yet have suffered it to gain 
ground upon the idea of preserving the balance of 
power. This custom is so deeply rooted, and so 
firmly established, that nothing short of annihila- 
tion of the governments, where they have been so 
long tolerated, can abolish the institution. 

From the situation and vicinity of the nations of 
Europe with respect to each other, the different ex- 
tent of territory rendering it more difficult to repel 
an invasion from some countries than others, for 
the celerity of defence and the more complete secu- 
rity of extensive countries ; from these and similar 
considerations, even wise politicians have defend- 
ed the propriety of the establishment ; but let their 
motives be ever so pure, the ambitious and the as- 
piring have views extensive and ruinous ; they 
have felt the charms and experienced the utility of 
this engine, and are not wanting in their exertions 
to support its existence. 

Our fortunate alliances in Europe have secured 
us from any danger of invasion from thence ; this 
security is derived from considerations of the best 
policy and true interest of the allied powers. 

The new and glorious treaty, concluded since tW 



181 

last anniversary, with the states of Holland, whose 
manners, laws, religion, and bloody contest for 
freedom, so nearly resemble our own,=^ affords a 

* If there was ever among nations a natural alliance, one may- 
be formed between the two republics. The first planters of 
the four northern states found in this country an asylum from 
persecution, and resided here from the year one thousand six 
hundred and eight, to the year one thousand six hundred and 
twenty, twelve years preceding their migration. They ever en- 
tertained and have transmitted to posterity, a grateful remem- 
brance of that protection and hospitality, and especially of that 
religious liberty they found here, having sought it in vain ia 
England. 

" The first inhabitants of two other states, New York and 
New Jersey, were immediate emigrants from this nation, and have 
transmitted their religion, language, customs, manners, and char- 
acter ; and America in general, until her connexions with the 
house of Bourbon, has ever considered this nation as her first 
friend in Europe, whose history, and the great characters it 
exhibits, in the various arts of peace, as well as achievements 
*>f war by sea and land, have been particularly studied, admir- 
ed, and imitated in every state. 

" A simihtude of religion, although it is not deemed so e^ 
sential in this as in former ages, to the alliance of nations, is 
still, as it ever will be, thought a desirable circumstance. Now 
it may be said with truth, that there are no two nations, 
whose worship, doctrine, and discipline, are more alike than 
those of the two republics. In this particular therefore, as far 
as it is of weight, an alliance would be perfectly natural. 

" A similarity in the forms of government, is usually con- 
sidered as another circumstance which renders alliances natural ; 
and although the constitutions of the two republics are not per- 
fectly alike, there is yet analogy enough between them, to mal^ 
a connexion easy in this respect. 

" The originals of the two republics are so much alike, that 
the history of one seems but a transcript from that of the other ; 
80 that every Dutchman instructed in the subject, must pro- 
nounce the American revolution just and necessary, or pass a cen- 
sure upon the greatest actions of his immortal ancestors : actions 
which have been approved and applauded by mankind, and 
justified by the decision of heaven. 

" If therefore an analogy of religion, government, origiiiaj 
manners, and the most extensive and lasting commercial inter- 
ests, can form a ground and an invitation to political cocnex 

Q 



182 
c 

happy presage of lasting security. We may add, 
the situation of our country, with respect to other 
dominions, is so secured by nature, that no one can 
feign pretensions sufficiently plausible to convince 
the people of America, of the propriety of support- 
ing a standing army in a time of peace ; whilst 
memory retains the exploits of our brave citizens 
in the field, who have joined the standard of free- 
dom, and successfully defended her injured altars 
and her devoted rites. The community will be as- 
sured, that upon the basis of a well regulated mili- 
tia, an army may be raised upon all future occa- 
sions sufficient to oppose the most formidable inva- 
ders. 

Here, were it pertinent, I would express a confi- 
dence, that when the army shall be disbanded, 
justice, with impartial scale, will distribute due re- 
wards to those who have jeoparded their lives in 
the high places of the field. 

Every American is conscious of the effects pro- 
duced by the knowledge of the people in the use of 
arms, and from that experience need not be exhort- 
ed to an attention to their militia. 

When we consider our own prosperous condi- 
tion, and view the state of that nation, of which we 
were once a part, we even weep over our enemy : 
when we refiect that she was once great ; that her 
navies rode formidable upon the ocean ; that her 
commerce was extended to every harbour of the 

iOns, the subscriber flatters himself, that in all these particulars' 
the union is so obviously natural, that there has seldom been a 
more distinct designation of Providence to any two distant 
nations to unite themselves together." 

Extracts from the memorial to their High Mightinesses, the 
States General of the United Provinces of the Low Countries, by 
that great statesman and patriot, his excellency John Adams. 
Esq. minister plenipotentiary at the Hague, dated Leyden, April 
1^9,1781, 



18o 

globe ; that her name was revered wherever it was. 
kno^vn ; that the weakh of nations was deposited in 
her island ; and that America was her friend, but 
by means of her standing armies, an immense con- 
tinent is separated from her kingdom,* and that 
once mighty empire, ready to fall an untimely vic- 
tim, to her own mad policy. 

Near eight full years have uow rolled away, sinc^ 
America has been cast off from the bosom and em- 
braces of her pretended parent, and has set up her 
own name among the empires. The assertions of 
so voung a country, were at first beheld with dubi- 
ous expectation ; and the ^vorld were ready to 
stamp the name of rashness or enterprize accord- 
ing to the event. 

But a manly and fortunate beginning, soon en- 
sured the m.ost generous assistance. The renowned 
and the ancient Gauls came early to the combat ; 
wise in council ; mighty in battle ! then with nev/ 
fury raged the storm of war ! the seas were crim- 
soned v/ith the richest blood of nations ! America's 
chosen legions waded to freedom through rivers 
dyed with the mingled blood of her enemies and 
her citizens ; through fields of carnage, and the 
gates of death ! 

At length independence is ours ; the halcyon 
day appears ! lo, from the east I see the harbinger, 
and from the train, it is peace herself ; and as atten- 
dants, all the gentle arts of life : commerce displays 
her snow white navies, fraught with the wealth of 
kingdoms ; plenty from her copious horn pours 

* A doubt may be entertained of the truth of this assertion ; but 
we can hardly believe that it would have entered into the head of 
a minister or parliament, to collect a militia in Great Britain to en- 
force their acts in America ; so that in our view, had the army 
been disbanded at the end of the last war, America and Britain ^t 
ibis moment would have been parts of the same kingdom. 



184 

forth her richest gifts. Heav&n commands ! the 
east and the west give up, and the north keeps not 
back ! all nations meet ! and beat their swords in- 
to ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks, 
and resolve to learn war no more. Henceforth 
shall the American wilderness blossom as the rose, 
and every man shall sit under his vine and under 
bis fig tree, and none shall make hjm afraid. 



ORATION, 



DELIVERED AT THE KING's CHAPEL, IN BOSTON, 
APRIL 8, 1776, 

ON THE REINTERMENT OF THE REMAINS OF THE LATE UO&T 
irORSHIPFUL GRAND MASTER, JOSEPH fVARREN, ES^. ; PRESIDENT OF 
THE LATE CONGRESS OF THIS COLONY, AND MAJOR GENERAL 
OF THE MASSACHUSETTS FORCES ; WHO WAS SLAIN IN THE 
BATTLE OF BU^KER's HILL, JUNE 17,1775. 



BY PEREZ MORTON, M.M, 



IlLVSTRIOVS RELICS, 

WHAT tidings from the grave ? why hast 
thou left the peaceful mansions of the tomb, to visit 
again this troubled earth ! art thou the welcome 
messenger of peace ! art thou risen again to exhib- 
it thy glorious wounds, and through them^proclaim 
salvation to thy country ! or art thou come to de- 
mand that last debt of humanity, to which your 
rank and merit have so justly entitled you ; but 
which has been so long ungenerously withheld ! 
and art thou angry at the barbarous usage ? be ap- 
peased, sweet ghost ! for though thy body has long 
laid undistinguished among the vulgar dead, scarce 
privileged with earth enough to hide it from the 
birds of prey ; though not a kindred tear was 
dropt, though not a friendly sigh was uttered o'er 
thy grave ; and though the execration of an impi- 
ous foe, v/ere all thy funeral knells ; yet, matchless 
patriot ! thy memory has been embalmed in the af- 
fectioBs of thy grateful countrymen ; who, in their 



186 

breast, have raised eternal monuments to thy 
bravery ! 

But let us leave the beloved remains, and con- 
template for a moment those virtues of the man, the 
exercise of which have so deservedly endeared him 
to the honest among the great, and the good among 
the humble. 

In the private walks of life, he w^as a pattern for 
mankind. The tears of her, to whom the world is 
indebted for so much virtue, are silent heralds of 
his filial piety ; while his tender offspring, in lisp- 
ing out their father's care, proclaim his parental af- 
fection : and an Adams can witness with how 
much zeal he loved, where he had formed the sa- 
cred connexion of a friend : their kindred souls 
were so closely twined, that both felt one joy, both 
one affliction. In conversation, he had the happy 
talent of addressing his subject both to the under- 
standing and the passions ; from the one he forced 
conviction, from the other he stole assent. 

He w^as blessed with a complacency of disposi- 
tion, and equanimity of temper, which peculiarly 
endeared him to his friends ; and which, added to 
the deportment of the gentleman, commanded rev- 
erence and esteem even from his enemies. 

Such was the tender sensibility of his soul, that 
he need bvit see distress to feel it, and contribute to 
its relief. He was deaf to the calls of interest, even 
in the course of his profession : and wherever he 
beheld an indigent object, which claimed his heal- 
ing skill, he administered it, without even the hope 
of any other reward, than that which resulted from 
the reflection of having so far promoted the happi- 
ness of his fellow men. 

In the social departments of life, practising upon 
the strength of that doctrine, he used so earnestly 
to icculcate himself, that nothing so n>nch conduc- 



187 

ed to enlighten mankind, and advance the great end. 
of society at large, as the frequent interchange of 
sentiments, in friendly meetings ; we find him con- 
stantly engaged in this eligible labour ; but on none 
did he place so high a value, as on that most hon- 
ourable of all detached societies, the free and ac- 
cepted masons : into this fraternity he was early in- 
itiated ; and after having given repeated proofs of 
a rapid proficiency in the arts,, and after having evi- 
denced by his life, the professions of his lips ; final- 
ly, as the reward of his merit, he was commission- 
ed the most worshipful Grand Master of all the an-- 
cient masons through North America. And you, 
brethren, are living testimonies, with how much 
honour to himself, and benefit to the craft universal, 
he discharged the duties of his elevated trust j with 
what sweetened accents he courted your attention, 
while, with wisdom, strength, and beauty, he in- 
structed his lodges in the secret arts of freemason- 
ry J Avhat perfect order and decorum he preserved 
in the government of them ; and in all his conduct, 
what a bright example he set us, to live within 
compass, and act upon the square. 

With what pleasure did he silence the wants of 
poor and pennyiess brethren ; yea, the necessitous 
every where, though ignorant of the mysteries of 
the craft, from his benefactions, felt the happy ef- 
fects of that institution, which is founded on faith, 
hope, and charity. And the world may cease to 
wonder, that he so readily offered up his life on the 
altar of his country, when they are told, that the 
main pillar of masonry is the love of mankind. 

The fates, as though they v/ould reveal in the 
person of our Grand Master, those mysteries, which 
have so long lain hid from the world, have suffered 
him, like the great master builder in the temple of 
old, to f^U by the hands of ruffians, and be again 



188 

raised in honour and authority : we searched in the 
field for the murdered son of a widow, and we 
found him, by the turf and the twig, buried on the 
brow of a hill, though not in a decent grave. And 
though we must again commit his body to the 
tomb, yet our breasts shall be the burying spot of 
his masonic virtues, and there, 

« An adamantine monument we'll rear, 

" With this inscription," Masonry " lies here.** 

In public life, the sole object of his ambition was, 
to acquire the conscience of virtuous enterprises ; 
amor patriae was the spring of his actions, and mens 
conscia recti was his guide. And on this security 
he was, on every occasion, ready to sacrifice his 
health, his interest, and his ease, to the sacred calls 
of his country. When the liberties of America 
were attacked, he appeared an early champion in 
the contest ; and though his knowledge and abili- 
ties would have insured riches and preferment, 
(could he have stooped to prostitution) yet he nobly 
withstood the fascinating charm, tossed Fortune 
back her plume, and pursued the inflexible purpose 
of his soul, in gUiiltless competence. 

He sought not the airy honours of a name, else, 
many of those publications, which, in the early pe- 
riod of our controversy served to open the minds 
of the people, had not appeared anonymous. In 
every time of imminent danger, his fellow citizens 
flew to him for advice ; like the orator of Athens, 
he gave it, and dispelled their fears : twice did they 
call him to the rostrum, to commemorate the mas- 
sacre of their brethren ; and from that instance, in 
persuasive language, he taught them, not only the 
dangerous tendency, but the actual mischief of sta- 
tioning a military force, in a free city, in a time of 



189 

peace. They learnt the profitable lesson, and pen* 
ned it among their grievances. 

But his abilities were too great, his deliberations 
too much wanted, to be confined to the limits of a 
single city, and at a time when our liberties were 
most critically in danger from the secret machina- 
tions and open assaults of our enemies, this town, 
to their lasting honour, elected him to take a part 
in the councils of the state. And with what faith- 
fulness he discharged the important delegation, the 
neglect of his private concerns, and his unwearied 
attendance on that betrustment, will sufficiently tes- 
tify : and the records of that virtuous assembly will 
remain the testimonials of his accomplishments as a 
statesman, and his integrity and services as a patri- 
ot, through all posterity. 

The Congress of our colony could not observe so 
much virtue and greatness, without honouring it 
with the highest mark of their favour ; and by the 
free suffrages of that uncorrupted body of freemen, 
he was soon called to preside in the senate, where, 
by his daily counsels and exertions, he was con- 
stantly promoting the great cause of general liberty. 

But when he found the tools of oppression were 
obstinately bent on violence : when he found the 
vengeance of the British court must be glutted with 
blood ; he determined that what he could not ef- 
fect by his eloquence or his pen, he wovild bring to 
purpose by his sword. And on the memorable 
19th of April, he appeared in the field, under the 
united characters of the general, the soldier, and 
the physician. Here he was seen animating his 
countrymen to battle, and fighting by their side, and 
there he was found administering healing comforts 
to the wounded. And when he had repelled the 
unprovoked assaults of the enemy, and had driverr 
them back into their strong holds, like the virtuous 



190 

ehief of Rome, he returned to the senate, and pre- 
sided again at the councils of the fathers. 

When the vanquished foe had rallied their disor- 
dered army, and by tht^ acquisition of fresh strength, 
again presumed to fight against freemen : our pat- 
riot, ever anxious to be where he could do the most 
good, again put oiF the senator, and, in contempt of 
danger, flew to the field of battle, where, after a 
stern, and almost victorious resistance, ah ! too 
soon for his coimtr}^ ! he sealed his principles with 
his blood ; then 

" Freedom wept, that Merit could not save," 
But Warrants manes ** must enrich the grave.*' 

Enriched indeed ! and the heights of Charlestown 
shall be more memorable for thy fall, than the 
Plains of Abraham are for that of the hero of Brit- 
ain. For while he died contending for a single 
country, you fell in the cause of virtue and man- 
kind. 

The greatness of his soul shone even in the mo- 
ment of death ; for, if fame speaks true, in his last 
agonies, he met the insults of his barbarous foe 
with his wonted magnanimity, and with the true 
spirit of a soldier, frowned at their impotence. 

In fine, to complete the great character, like Har- 
rington he wrote ; like Cicero he spoke ; like 
Hampden he lived, and like Wolfe he died. 

And can we, my countrymen, with indiflference 
behold so much valour laid prostrate by the hand of 
British tyranny ! and can we ever grasp that hand 
in affection again ? are we not yet convinced, " that . 
he who hunts the woods for prey, the naked and 
untutored Indian, is less a savage than the king of 
Britain !" Have we not proofs, wrote in blood, that 
the corrupted nation, from whence we sprang, 
(though there may bt some trskces of their ancient. 



191 

virtue left) are stubbornly fixed on our destruction ! 
and shall we still court a dependence on such a 
state ? still contend for a connexion with those who 
have forfeited not only every kindred claim, but 
even their title to humanity ! forbid it the spirit of 
the brave Montgomery ! forbid it the spirit of im- 
mortal Warren ! forbid it the spirits of all our val- 
iant countrymen ! who fought, bled, and died for 
far different purposes : and who would have 
thought the purchase dear indeed, to have paid 
their lives for the paltry boon of displacing one set 
of villains in power, to make way for another. No. 
They contended for the establishment of peace, lib- 
erty, and safety to their country ; and we are un- 
worthy to be called their countrymen, if we stop at 
any acquisition short of this. 

Now is the happy season, to seize again those 
rights, which, as men, we are by nature entitled to, 
and which, by contract, we never have, and never 
could have surrendered ; but which have been re- 
peatedly and violently attacked by the king, lords 
and commons of Britain. Ought we not then to 
disclaim forever the forfeited affinity ; and, by a 
timely amputation of that rotten limb of the empire, 
prevent the mortification of the whole ? ought we 
not to listen to the voice of our slaughtered breth- 
ren, who are now proclaiming aloud to their coun- 
try- 
Go tell the king, and tell him from our spirits, 
That you and Britons can be friends no more ; 
Tell him to you all tyrants are the same : 
Or if in bonds, the never conquer'd soul 
Can feel a pang, more keen than slavery's self, 
Tis where the chains that crush you into dust, 
Are forg'd by hands, from which you hop'd for freedora. 

Yes, we ought, and will ; we will assert the blood 
of our murdered hero, against thy hostile oppres- 



192 

sions, O shameless Britain ! and when " thy cloud- 
capt towers, thy gorgeous palaces," shall, by the 
teeth of pride and folly, be levelled with the dust ; 
and when thy glory shall have faded like the west- 
ern sunbeam ; the name and the virtues of Warren 
shall remain immortal. 



POEM, ^e. 

[THE following masterly piece of original"composition is from the 
pen of James Allen, of Boston, in the state of Massachusetts, 
Esq. and was written when his feelings, like those of every other 
free born American, were all alive at the inhuman murders of 
our countrymen, in the streets of that town, on the evening of 
the fifth of March, 1770, and which gave birth to several of the 
preceding orations, in which that act of British violence and 
brutality is, in strong colours, depicted.] 



FROM realms of bondage and a tyrant's reign, 
Our Godlike fathers bore no slavish chain, 
To Pharaoh's face th' inspired Patriarchs stood, 
To seal their virtue, w^ith a martyr's blood : 
But lives so precious, such a sacred seed. 
The source of empires, heav'n's high will decreed ; 
He snach'dthe Saints from Pharaoh's impious hand* 
And bad his chosen seek this distant land : 
Then to these climes th' illustrious exiles sped, 
'Twas freedom prompted, and the Godhead led. 
Eternal woods the virgin soil defac'd, 
A dreary desert, and an howling waste ; 
The haunt of tribes no pity taught to spare, 
And they oppos'd them with remorseless war. 
But heav'n's right arm led forth the faithful train, 
The guardian Godhead swept the insidious plain. 
Till the scour'd thicket amicable stood. 
Nor dastard ambush, trench'd the dusky wood : 
Our sires then earn'd no more, precarious bread, 
Nor midst alarms their frugal meals were spread. 
Fair boding hopes inur'd their hands to toil, 
And patriot virtue nurs'd the thriving soil, 



1§4 

Nor scarce two ages have their periods run, 
Since o'er their culture smil'd the genial sun ; 
And now what states extend their fair domains, 
O'er fleecy mountains and luxuriant plains ; 
Where happy millions their own fields possess. 
No tyrant awes them, and no lords oppress ; 
The hand of rule divine discretion guides, 
And white rob'd virtue o'er her paths preside s. 
Each polic'd order venerates the laws, 
And each ingenuous speaks in freedom's cause ; 
The Spartan spirit, nor the Roman name, 
The patriot's pride, shall rival these in fame ; 
Here all the sweets that social life can know. 
From the full font of civil sapience flow ; 
Here golden Ceres clothes th' autumnal plain^ 
And art's fair Empress holds her new domain : 
Here angel Science spreads her lucid wing, 
And hark, how sweet the new born Muses sing ; 
Here gen'rous Commerce spreads her lib'ral hand, 
And scatters foreign blessings round the land. 
Shall meagre Mammon, or proud lust of sway, 
Reverse these scenes ; will heav'n permit the day : 
Shall in this era all our hopes expire, 
And weeping freedom from her fanes retire ? 
Here shall the tyrant still our peace pursue. 
From the pain'd eye brow drink the vital dew ; 
Not nature's barrier wards our Father's foe, 
Seas roll in vain, and boundless oceans flow. 

Stay, Pharaoh,* stay, that impious hand forbear, 
Nor tempt the genius of our souls too far ; 
How oft, ungracious ! in thy thankless stead, 
''Mid scenes of death our generous youth have bled j 
When the proud Gaul thy mightiest powers repell'd 
And drove your legions trembling from the field ; 

* The king of Great Britaisr 



195 

We rent the laurel from the victor's brow, 
And round your temples taught the wreath to grow,* 
Say; when thy slaughter'd bands the desert dy'd, 
"Where the lone Ohio rolls her gloomy tide, 
Whose dreary banks their wasting bones enshrine, 
What arm aveng'd them ? thankless ! was it thinti ff 
But gen'rous valour scorns a boasting word, 
And conscious virtue reaps her own reward, 
Yet conscious virtue bids thee now to speak, 
Though guilty blushes kindle o'er your cheek : 
If wasting wars, and painful toils at length, 
Had drain'd our veins, and wither'd all our strength^ 
How could'st thou, cruel, form the wild design. 
And round our necks the wreath of bondage twine ! 
And if some ling'ring spirit rouz'd to strife. 
Bid ruffian murder drink the dregs of life : 
Shall future ages e'er forget the deed ? 
And shan't for this imperious Britian bleed ? 
When comes the period heaven predestines must, 
When Europe's glories shall be whelm'd in dust, 
When our proud fleets the naval wreath shall wear. 
And o'er her empires hurl the bolts of war, 
Unnerv'd by fate, the boldest heart shall fail, 
And 'mid their guards auxiliar kings grow pale j 
In vain shall Britian lift her suppliant eye, 
An alien'd offspring feels no filial tie, 
Her tears in vain shall bathe the soldier's feet, 
Remember, ingrate, Boston's crimson'd street 4 

* The taking of Louisbourg In 1 745, by Gen. Pepperell. 

f The same year, the king's troops were surprised near the banks 
/>f the Ohio ; when our illustrious General Washington covered the 
retreat, and saved from destruction the whole army. A body qf 
French were repulsed at an assault of the provincial lines, at the 
westward, their General taken prisoner, and their w^ole ari^y 
compelled to fly back to Canada. 

^ The massacre of the 5th of March, 17?0. 



196 

Whole hecatombs of lives the deed shall pay, 
And purge the murders of that guilty day.* 

But why to future periods look so far, 
What force e'er fac'd us, that we fear'd to dare ; 
Then, can'st thou think, e'en on this early day, 
Proud force shall bend us to a tyrant's sway ; 
A foreign foe oppos'd our sword in vain,f 
And thine own troops we've rallied on the plain.:}: 
If then our lives your lawless sword invade, 
Think'st thou, enslav'd, we'll kiss the pointed blade ? 
Nay let experience speak ; be this the test, 
^Tis from experience that we reason best. 
When first thy mandate shew'd the shameless plan, 
To rank our race beneath the class of man, 
Low as the brute to sink the human line. 
Our toil our portion, and the harvest thine, 
Modest but firm, we plead the sacred cause, 
On nature bas'd and sanction'd by the laws ? 
But your deaf ear the conscious plea deny'd. 
Some demon counsei'd — and the sword reply'd j 
Your navy then our haven cover'd o'er. 
And arm'd battalions trespass'd on our shore, 
Thro' the prime streets, they march'd in war's array, 
At noon's full blaze, and in the face of day : 
With dumb contempt we pass'd the servile show, 
While scorn's proud spirit scowl'd on every brow ; 
Day after day successive wrongs we bore, 
rill patience wearied could support no more, 

* The poet seems to have been very prophetic in this beautiful 

passage. 

f The extirpation of the Neutrals from Nova Scotia. ^ 

\ The Provincials covered the retreat from the French lines, at 
Ticonderoga, when the British general, Abercrombic, was then 
dsifeated by the Marquis Montcalm; in 1758. 



197 

Till slaughter'd lives our native streets prophan'd 
And thy slave's hand our hallow'd crimson stain'd, 
No sudden rage the ruffian soldier tore, 
Or swam the pavements with his vital gore, 
Deliberate thought did all our souls compose, 
Till veil'd in glooms the low'ry morning rose ; 
No mob then furious urg'd th' impassion'd fray, 
Nor clam'rous tumult din'd the solemn day, 
In full convene the ^ city senate sat. 
Our Father's spirit rul'd the firm debate ; 
The freeborn soul no reptile tyrant checks, 
'Tis Heav'n who dictates when the people speaks ; 
Loud from their tongues the awful mandate broke. 
And thus inspir'd the sacred senate spoke ; 
Ye miscreant troops be gone ! our presence fly, 
Stay, if ye dare, but if ye dare, ye die ! 
Ah ! too severe, the fearful Chieff replies, 
Permit one half, the other instant flies ; 
No parley, avaunt, or by our Father's shades. 
Your reeking lives shall glut our vengeful blades. 
Ere morning's light begone, or else we swear, 
Each slaughter'd corse shall feed the birds of air ! 
Ere morning's light had streak'd the skies with red. 
The Chieftain yielded, and the soldier fled, 
'Tis thus experience speaks ; the test forbear, 
Nor shews these states your feeble front of war. 
But still your navies lord it o'er the main. 
Their keels are natives of our oaken plain : 
E'en the proud mast that bears your flag on high, 
Grew on our soil, and ripen'd in our sky : 
*^ Know then thyself, presume not us to scan," 
Your power precarious, and your isle a span. 
Yet could our wrongs in just oblivion sleep, 
And on each neck reviv'd affection weep, 

* The town meeting at Faneuil Hall. 
•f The infamous Governor Hutchinson. 



198 



The brave are generous, and the good forgive, 
Then say you've wrong'd us, and our parent live :* 
But face not fate, oppose not heaven's decree, 
Let not that curse, our Mother, light on thee. 

* Her tyrants were too self conceited, and too obstinate to take 
the advice of men of the best sense and understanding. The can- 
sequence has been the establishment of liberty and universal (^oiR- 
merce in America. 




REOEIVED. ^^ V 



{f^^^^^S^*:^ 



INDEX. 



Oration by James Lovell, A. M. . , .... page 4 

Dr. Joseph WTarren, IS 

Dr. Benjamin Church, 27 

-the Hon. John Hancock, Esq. 39 

Dr. Joseph Warren, SS 

Peter Thacher, MA* 71 

Benjamin Hitchborn, Esq. . , 8*5 

Jonathan W. Austin, Esq. 97 

Wilh'am Tudor, Esq. 115 

Mr. Jonathan Mason, jun. , 129 

Thomas Dawes, jun 147 

George Richards Minot, 163 

Dr. Thomas Welsh, 173 

Perez Morton, M. M. 185 

Poem by Jamee Allen, Esq 193 



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